


The Warner Project

by VoiceOfTheLegion



Category: Animaniacs
Genre: Adoption, Animal Traits, Child Neglect, Fluff then Angst then Fluff again, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, an attempt at drama, an attempt at humor, neurodivergent Warners - Freeform, puppy warners
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28027188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoiceOfTheLegion/pseuds/VoiceOfTheLegion
Summary: Dr. Otto Scratchensniff had always taken pride in the dedication he took to his job. He was well respected and well known in his field with some of the biggest stars in the world coming to lay down their problems at his feet. He was happy.All that changes when he gets placed in charge of the newly escaped Warner Brothers (and the Warner sister) and is given the impossible job of dezanifiying them lest he lose his. The Warner's themselves struggle to fit into a world that does not want them to be a part of it.
Comments: 55
Kudos: 300





	1. First Impressions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reboot has thrown me so far back into this fandom but I'm starving for content. So, I'm just self indulging in that good old found family trope. And contributing to the archive. I'm not much of a writer and this is mostly for fun so don't expect too much.

The first time Dr. Otto Skratchensniff had met the Warner's he'd had his door practically kicked down by his raging boss followed closely by the lot's nervous looking security guard. Slung unceremoniously over Ralph's shoulder was a wriggling net with three struggling toon children inside trying desperately to get out. At Plotz command Ralph hoisted the net to his chest and flipped it sending the toons tumbling to the ground in front of him. 

“These,” Mr. Plotz growled pointing an accusatory finger at the toons, “are the Warner Brothers.”

“And the Warner sister.” Piped up the small one. 

“Quiet you!” He snapped, to which she turned her head at with a humph.

“These toons,” he growled continuing, “are destroying my lot! There's a line of angry people outside my office because of them! We'll be lucky if we don't get sued! Not to mention all the property damage they've already caused!” He paced as he said this, arms flying above his head making angry gestures. 

If his face turns anymore red he'll look like a tomato, Otto thought to himself. Aloud he cleared his throat loudly to get Plotz's attention. He stopped with his mad ravings and turned his angry eyes to him.

“So, erm, why did bring them here?” Otto asked nervously under Plotz's scrutiny. “Why not bring them to their parents or back to wherever they came from?” He was confused as to why Plotz had decided to bring these apparent trouble makers to him. He was no babysitter, having had little experience with children in his life, and he knew very little about toons as well. Toon psychology was a fair bit different from humans and, as he wasn't trained for it, he took on very few toon clients. 

It was the wrong question apparently as Plotz only seemed to get angrier. Otto could practically see the comical stream that would be coming out of his ears if this had happened during filming of one of their cartoons.

“There would be no point to sending them back now that we know they can get out!” he howled. 

“Don't worry, Plotzy!” the biggest said with a cheeky grin leaping into his arms. “We know you'd miss us if we stayed away! As our very special friend we'll make sure to visit you every day!” He finished his declaration by planting a large kiss on Plotz's nose making an audible pop with his lips and leaping away. Plotz screamed and swiped at him but he was already out of reach standing with the other two beside him, grinning at them innocently. 

“Anyway,” Plotz snarled, turning his attention back to Otto. “For the time being we're stuck with them. And I can't afford to have them running amok everyday. I want you,” he stuck his finger into Otto's face, “to dezanify these kids! If they aren't stopped their stupid jokes and pranks will run this company into the ground!”

“But sir,” Otto protested, “I don't know anything about toons or children much less toon children!” 

“You're the psychiatrist so you figure it out!” Plotz's yelled getting in Otto's face, close enough that he could feel the warm air from his breath. “Look Scratchensniff, I don't care what method you use! Threats, corporal punishment, the healing power of talk you so love to go on about,” he put mockingly in quotations. “Make those kids behave or it'll Be. Your. Job!” He made sure to emphasize every point with a sharp jab to Otto's chest.

“Yes, of course, I'll take care of it right away!” Otto stammered laughing nervously. He was sure everyone in the room could see the nervous sweat dripping down his forehead. Thankfully, Plotz backed off, content to leave it at that and stomped out with Ralph trailing after him. Otto felt some of the tension in his body release after his angry boss left the room and he deflated with a sigh lamenting his luck.

The sound of a throat being cleared rather loudly and pointedly brought his attention to the other occupants in the room. The three toons were studying him curiously. Then the biggest one spoke.

“You know, we're pretty big criers when it comes to corporal punishment. Gets real loud and goes on for hours.” he said, casually, like he was discussing the weather.

“Oh yeah,” the middle sized one that had yet to speak joined in, “And ink is real nasty to get out of clothes. Doesn't wash out easy, you know.” He exaggerated a grimace.

“And you can't send us the dry cleaning bill.” the last one piped up hands on her hips looking pointedly away from him. “We've been locked in a water tower for sixty years. We don't have any money.”

“Oh,” was all Otto could think of to say confused by the mention of and ink and a water tower. “I see...this is one of the zany jokes, yah?” He asked, puzzled.

“Well, you know us Warners,” the biggest said clasping his hands together and swaying, “we can't help it if we like to play~.” He dragged out the last word looking for all the world like he was completely innocent.

“Yes, well, it sounds like your 'play' has cause quite a lot of damage.” Otto said disapprovingly. “Anyway, my name is Dr. Otto Scrathensniff. You may call me Mr. Scrathensniff or just doctor is fine.

“I'm Yakko,” said the biggest, “and these are my sibs, Wakko and Dot.” He indicated to the smaller two respectively. 

Yakko held out his hand for a shake and Otto smiled coming over to meet him. These kids didn't seem so bad. Perhaps this would be easier than he thought. He was about to grasp Yakko's hand but instead all three of them leaped into his arms. They planted big sloppy kisses onto his face popping their lips as obnoxiously as they could.

“So,” Yakko asked, smiling up at him as they dangling from Otto's arms, “Can we call you Scratchy?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, hope you enjoyed. It's not much and I don't plan of having any kind of update schedule but we'll see how we go from here. I'll also make an effort to get the chapters longer but, as I said, I'm not much of a writer. I also really like the headcanon of the Warners being neurodivergent. I'm going to try to incorporate it but I'd have to do some research so I can do it respectfully.
> 
> Seriously though, if you take anything away from this it's that I encourage you to write your own fic! The fic quality in this fandom is pretty damn good but we have so few to choose from. So go write your own story! Let's build that number! If I did it, you can.
> 
> If you got any critiques I'm always open to it.


	2. Among Warners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He took the kids to his home. 
> 
> Big mistake. Huge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I decided to write a bit more today and thought might as well. Really, the only thing I can say is I hope you find me funny. If humor isn't good, it's bad there is no inbetween.

Several weeks had gone by since the Warner's had escaped the Water Tower. He'd made absolutely no progress with dezanifying the kids. Rather the opposite, he felt, as everyday they seemed to push his sanity farther to the edge. He hadn't been quite sure what to do with the Warner's for the first few weeks after Plotz had dumped them on him. He'd asked them if they had parents or a guardian out looking for them. That's when they'd told him of how they'd been locked away in the water tower for sixty odd years. At first, he'd thought they'd been joking.

Toons living in a water tower for sixty years? Absurdity. 

They insisted when he'd said he hadn't believed them. Eventually they'd been able to convince him to look into the company records about it. Plotz had permitted him to see any confidential information if it regarded the Warner's. By the time he was done reading it he had learned of the Warner's entire history. He's also seen a very long list of incident reports created from them alone. They'd chuckled, reading over his shoulder, reminiscing on the fun they'd used to have. 

Otto hadn't been so sure that all the anger Plotz had shown them was justified when he first brought the kids to him, at first. But the more he learned the more he was coming to sympathize with the view. These kids were monsters, for sure.

But they were still children. And, willingly or not, he'd been forced into being their caretaker for the time being. He knew now, they didn't have anyone to go back to and he also figured they wouldn't want to go stay in a rusty, old, water tower they had spent sixty years imprisoned in. At the end of his shift he didn't see much choice in the matter. So he brought them home.

He lived in a rather nice apartment complex a few miles from the studio. He'd piled the kids into his car and they had been glued to the windows the whole time.

“You'd think you kids had never seen a city before with how impressed you all seem to be.” Otto had commented jokingly. 

“We haven't.” Yakko said not taking his eyes off the window. “We've never been off the lot before.”

“You'll like my place then. I have a pretty good view of Burbank.

The prospect seemed to excite the kids and they began lightly bouncing in their seats in anticipation. Otto lived on the top floor of a luxurious apartment complex. The kids had seemed pretty impressed when they'd first entered his home.

It was a lofty apartment, with a wide open main room where the promised window was. You could see the city stretching for miles into the horizon, the setting sun turning the landscape orange, with the studio water tower at the center of it all.

“Faboo.” Wakko said sticking out his tongue and grinning as they admired it.

“Well, kids, I don't have much to offer,” Otto said joining them at the window. “But I have a spare bed and bathroom you can use for the time being. Make yourselves at home.” He was going to regret this, he was sure.

-

The first evening with them had been relatively normal much to Otto's surprise. He'd given them some spare sheets and toiletry he had around and sent them to prepare the spare bedroom for themselves. While they did that he'd ordered pizza. Dinner had gone smoothly except for Wakko not being nearly satisfied with the amount he was given. The miserable whimpers he had gotten when he tried to tell him no more wore down his resistance, so he popped a frozen pizza in the oven for Wakko as well. 

Later that night, when he had sent them to bed, they hadn't raised any fuse. He went to bed beginning to feel pretty good about this again. Maybe those incident reports had been highly exaggerated. If the kids stayed this well behaved for him then maybe Plotz would give him a raise. He'd become a hero on the lot having successfully tamed the screwy! Otto fell into sleep thinking thoughts of grandeur. 

He woke up to the smell of burning. He'd bolted out of bed and into the room as soon as the alarms went off. He found the three Warner's standing in his kitchen. They'd found a box of waffles he kept in the freeze and his syrup. Yakko was in the midst of spreading syrup on freshly toasted waffles and throwing them up onto the ceiling. They would stick and both he and Dot would stand back and watch as Wakko would try to position himself beneath the sticky waffle to try and catch them with his mouth as they fell. Judging by the syrup residue and crumbs on his fur he wasn't often successful. Something on the stove had been left forgotten in all the chaos and was beginning to smoke.

“Just what do you think you are doing?!” Otto yelled at the kids and they froze in their game, surprised by his sudden presence and angered yelling.

“You said make yourself at home.” Yakko pointed out.

“I did not say that you could trash my living space!” Otto yelled angrily. “And you're going to end up burning the place down if you keep that up!” He stomped over to the stove to turn it off. The Warner's stared at him in silence.

At that moment the waffle Wakko had been standing under fell from the ceiling predictably landing on his head with a soggy sounding plop. Dot and Yakko burst out into giggles and Otto slapped his hand to his head.

“Oh what next?” he groaned. 

The fire alarm for the building started blaring. The smoking pan, having been forgot in the moment, had continued to fill the room and eventually had set the alarms off. The entire complex had had to evacuate the building while they waited for the fire department to sort things out. 

Otto was unbelievably embarrassed but thankfully no one seemed to notice him and his three charges among the chaos. They were setting on a bench in the shade, watching as the crowd of neighbors milled about the firetruck waiting for answers. Wakko still had the waffle on his head.

“Wakko, will you please take that off your head you're becoming a huge mess.” Otto said. Not that is mattered much now. The boy was already a drippy, sticky, sugary mess and it wouldn't be easy to scrub out of his fur or clothes.

“Nope!” he said cheerfully.

“Why not?” Yakko asked giving his brother an odd look.

“I'm saving it as a snack for later.” Wakko said quite happily.

“Disgusting.” Dot said pretending to gag, which got a laugh out of Yakko.

“You'll be jealous when I have this snack later and you don't.” He countered but didn't look too bothered by their teasing.

“I'll make sure to contain myself.” Dot said dryly. 

-

That had been weeks ago, but everyday something just like it would happen. Dishes were broken, stains were made that no amount of bleach would clean, and his couch has chunks missing from Wakko trying to eat it. To make matters worse, Otto's neighbors had been complaining and he was receiving threats from his landlord. He was going to be evicted if this kept up. He sat the kids down that night.

“Listen kids, I'm starting to think bringing you three into a human apartment complex may not have been the best idea.” he groaned into his hands while the three toons focused on their dinner.

“They just don't like what we did to the complex pool.” Yakko mock whispered to his siblings. 

“They must have absolutely no artistic taste.” Dot agreed. “I think our indoor water park turned out pretty great.”

“No. No no no. That is exactly my point.” Otto said trying to contain his annoyance. “You three are too destructive and zany and you're disrupting the people who live here. And you're going to get me kicked out of here. I signed a two year lease!” He sighed in defeat.

“But I don't know what else to do with you.” 

The three toons stared at Otto in his crestfallen state. They felt kinda bad. They were just having fun and they hadn't meant to get Scratchy in trouble with his landlord.

“You could always, uhhhhh, take us home?” Yakko suggested. 

“What?” Otto asked in surprise snapping to attention. 

“The water tower!”

Dot and Wakko nodded in agreement.

“I kinda miss having my own bed, actually.” Wakko added.

“But... but I... wasn't it a prison to you?” Otto asked in shock.

“It sucked not being able to leave, sure,” Dot answered, “But the water tower itself is pretty nice. It's home.” She said definitively, her brothers nodding in agreement. 

“Why didn't you three say anything?” Otto asked incredulously. The shock was starting to wear off and anger was setting in.

“You didn't ask!” All three siblings replied grinning at him. 

Later that night Otto received a very angry message on his phone from his landlord. All of the neighbors he shared walls with, and some others, had reported hearing him screaming from his apartment sometime in the afternoon for about an hour and a half.

“Is should be kicking you out today!” The angry prerecorded message screamed. “The only reason I'm not is because you helped a friend of mine through his problems once. But this is the last chance, Scratchensniff! One more indecent and I'll being throwing your belongings out myself!” Otto winced at the sound of the phone on the other end being slammed. Needless to say, he took the Warner's home that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as things are I'm thinking this is gonna be a slow burn. It's going to take awhile for Scratchy to warm up to these kids and then the drama can begin. In the meantime I hope I can entertain you. I also have a vague for the other animaniacs to show up so I'll probably update the tags when that's ironed out more.


	3. The Genius and The Insane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're Pinky and the Brain.
> 
> Yes Pinky and the Brain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All skits were made up as I went along so fingers crossed they're any good at all.

Plotz hadn't been been pleased by the news that the kids wanted to continue living on the lot. Otto considered it a victory that he hadn't made a big fuss about it. The Warner's were company property, after all. They had the right to be there.

“You had better speed up their consoling then.” Plotz growled, openly glowering at Otto from his desk. “We will not be tolerating any further mischief from those toons!”

“Please, sir, these types of changes don't happen overnight.” Otto pleaded. “If you just give me more ti-”

“I know they don't! Do you take me for a fool?” Plotz interrupted slamming his fist on his desk. “I just want to remind you, that as their temporary guardian, the responsibility for whatever mischief they cause will fall on you. So I suggest you lay down the law with those kids, if you catch my drift.”

“Yes, sir!” Otto yelped backing out of Plotz office quickly when he indicated he was free to go. He wasn't entirely sure how he was going to 'lay down the law' or so to speak. When it came to the Warner's yelling only seemed to spur them on. Dread filled him as he walked looking for his charges. His career, the one thing he had dedicated his entire life to, depended on if he could get three child toons, who had seemingly been designed to be bad, to behave themselves. He was doomed.

-

He found them in the lot cafeteria. Caterers hustled around them trying to do their jobs while tolerating the Warner's being nuisances. Wakko kept stealing the food they were trying to put out, showing whole plates down his mouth and scooping up anything else within reach into a small brown sack he was holding. Yakko was giving chase to a rather busty looking young women who had abandoned all pretenses of work and was just trying to get away. Dot was doing much the same, hanging off the shoulder of a rather flustered looking young man. One man in particular, assumedly the supervisor if the different uniform was to go by, was standing not far off from the group. 

From his ruffled appearance and his undisguised hateful glares he was sending the Warners, it didn't take a genius to figure out he had been well acquainted with them long before Otto got there.

“Hey, you!” He snapped when he noticed Otto approach. “Are you the 'Scratchy' these things mentioned? If you're their caretaker do you care to take them away? We have a job to do!” 

Otto nervously debated if he could successfully lie his way out of this or not when Yakko spotted him.

“Heya, Scratchy!” he called, giving up his chase to trot over to him. “I see you've met our special friend.” Yakko side eyed the man with a self satisfied smirk. The man opened his mouth looking like he was about to start yelling but Otto beat him to it.

“Yakko, if I've told you once, I've told you one hundred times, you do not get to just harass anyone you three happen to meet!” He shouted getting the attention of everyone in the room.

“But-” Yakko protested, looking a bit put out, but Otto cut him off.

“No cuts, no buts, no coconuts! You three kids need to get it into your zany little brains that studios don't keep bad toons that don't know how to behave!” Otto ranted. For a moment, he thought he saw a flash of hurt crossover Yakko's face but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. Wakko and Dot had also both abandoned what they had been doing and ran over as soon as the yelling started.

“Scratchy, Yakko didn-” Dot began. 

“No excuses! Now you three go to my office now and wait for me there! I'm going to try and sort out this mess you've made for me.” He snapped rubbing his hand on his temples. He was taking out his frustrations on them, he knew. But for the moment all he cared about was that this could cost him his job today if it got back to Plotz. Seeing the kid's crestfallen faces as they left was enough to make a small amount of guilt dig itself into his chest but he ignored it. The Warner siblings had no doubt started this anyway. The man Yakko had called their 'special friend' was watching them leave with a fierce grin on his face.

“I sincerely apologize on behalf of the Warners,” Otto said wringing his hands together nervously. “I can assure you they'll get a talking to when I get back to my office. Surely, we can let this be water under the bridge, yeah?”

“I was going to file a complaint against the studio but seeing as you took care of things I guess I'll let it slide.” The man continued shaking his head disapprovingly. “ Really though, the studio outta be making those things wear leashes if they're gonna be outside with the rest of us normal folk.”

“Yes, well, I guess I should be going now.” Otto said growing uncomfortable as the man laughed. He hoped that the Warner's had gone straight to his office like he'd requested.

-

Yakko trudged along with his siblings in the direction of Scratchy's office. They were trying to remain cheerful, as they usually were, but Yakko still noticed how their tags dragged a little closer to the ground and their ears drooped slightly more than usual. The three of them getting yelled at, especially by Scratchy, was nothing new but it stung the way he wouldn't even hear them out. They hadn't set out to start trouble but that jerk had absolutely deserved it.

They had started off by going to the cafeteria because Wakko had said he was hungry. They hadn't intended to stay for long as Scratchy had requested that they wait for him in his office while he met with Plotz but Wakko tended to get run down and tired when he was hungry and didn't eat. None of them was quite sure why.

When they'd arrive caterer's had already been busily moving about setting out this and that. It wasn't too unusual for studios to provide food to staff during heavy filming days after all. One man in particular had stood out to the three toons though. A burly set man with mean eyes was standing in the center of the chaos barking orders while not doing any work himself and insulting those who didn't perform to his high standards. At first, the Warner's had been content to ignore him for the most part merely mocking him behind his back occasionally. But a booming triumphant shout from him got their attention.

“Thought you could steal food and no one would notice, did ya?” He was shouting at something small and wriggling in his hand.

“Hey, put Brain down!” A second, higher pitched, voice protested. A small toon mouse was standing at the mans feet looking cross. 

“We have no need to steal to feed ourselves, you big oaf. Now unhand me at once!” A second mouse squeaked squirming in the man's unyielding grip. Without so much as sparing the first mouse a glance he sent out a sharp kick sending him flying several feet away. He hit the ground hard and lay there stunned.

“This is why I hate taking studio jobs.” The man snarled, shaking the mouse he still held in his fist. “God damn toons everywhere you look. A waste of perfectly good ink that could be put in pens or something, if you ask me.” He opened his fist observing the now stunned mouse he held.

“I mean, just look at you. An affront to nature itself. Real mice don't have this big head or kinked tail...” He sneered maliciously at the mouse. “Why don't I help you straiten out that tail of yours?” He began roughly swinging the mouse around by his tail. The mouse himself was starting to look a little green.

“That guy's really asking for it.” Dot muttered darkly.

“We're not just going to stand by and watch, are we Yakko?” Wakko asked sending a pleading look to his brother. 

“We couldn't call ourselves proud toons if we did.” Yakko replied.

Yakko and Dot approached the man while Wakko ran over to check on the mouse that had been kicked away.

“Oh great! More freaks.” He said upon seeing them approach. “And what the hell are you supposed to be?”

“You know, there's a lot of contention about that,” Yakko replied. “But to you we're the Warner brothers.”

“And you can call me yours, handsome.” Dot said clawing her way up his shirt and getting into his face.

“Get off of me!” He yelled grabbing Dot and throwing her to the ground. Yakko was able to step in and catch her before she hit the ground. “If I have to deal with anymore freaks today I swear-”

“Swearing? In front of impressionable, innocent children? You outta be ashamed of yourself, mister!” Yakko said. 

“Who in there right mind would consider freaks like you innocent children?”

“Scratchy does.” Wakko answered finally joining them. The mouse he'd gone to check on was sitting on his shoulder.

“Seeing as you are, uhhh, how you are,” Yakko said eyeing the man up and down.

“And what's that supposed to me-?”

“I'm going to make this really simple for you. Put the mouse down or I'll sick my brother on you.” Wakko lowered himself onto all fours growling and baring his teeth to demonstrate. 

“And just between you and me, pal, he never got his shots.” Yakko added leaning forward to whisper conspiratorially into his ear.

“Is that supposed to be a threat? You think you can scare me?!” The man bellowed. 

“Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you. Wakko?” 

With that Wakko hefted out a rather large mallet from his hammer space and slammed it down onto the man's head. The man was left almost completely smooshed beneath it with the exception of the hand holding Brain, which was open. A pained groaning could be heard coming from under the mallet.

“Brain! Are you alright?” The mouse on Wakko's shoulder called hopping down to help him up.

“Somehow, Pinky. Though I think it is time for a tactical retreat,” Brain said. He still looked a little green.

“You two go on. We'll take it from here.” Yakko told them “It would be rude to leave our new friend when we just met.”

Letting Brain lean on his shoulder Pinky lead him away while the Warner's turned their attention back to the man. He was starting to recover and he and his siblings were far from done with him.

“Yakko, look! It's those mice toons.” Yakko was shaken from his thoughts by his brother pulling on his arm and pointing. The two mice were approaching them, Pinky giving them a friendly wave. 

“Hey, guys! You're looking a bit better.” Yakko greeted them.

“In no small part due to you're meddling,” Brain answered. “As much as I hate to admit it we are in your debt.”

“I think we made new friends today, Brain!” Pinky said happily giving a delighted twirl.

“Quiet, Pinky. Friends? We haven't even been properly introduced.”

“That's a pretty easy fix. I'm Yakko.”

“I'm Wakko!” Wakko piped up.

“And I'm cute!” Dot said giving a little curtsy. 

“I am the Brain and my intellectually challenged associate goes by Pinky.” He said holding out his hand which Yakko took.

“How very kind of you to say, Brain. Narf!” Pinky added.

“So, what are you both doing on the lot? I don't remember seeing you two before.” Yakko asked. 

“We aren't from the lot we were just here on business.” Brain said coyly. 

“Brain made bars!” Pinky blurted out not noticing his friends attempt at being desecrate. He pulled out a large tray from his hammerspace.

“You nearly got your tail ripped out because you made... bars?” Dot asked skeptically her eyebrow cocked. Brain sighed. 

“It was the first phase in my plot to take over the world.”

“Okay, this I gotta hear.” Yakko said sitting down. Wakko, who had been eyeing the tray since Pinky took it out, slurped them all up in one bite.

“It was going to be simple but effective.” Brain began his explanation. “I devised a recipe for bars so tasty, so irresistible, that people wouldn't be able to stop eating them. To start I would have some of the biggest stars in Hollywood endorsing them. When everyone in the world is hooked I'll stop the supply and demand their surrender.”

“Egads, Brain is so brilliant.” Pinky said dreamily. 

“Sure, we'll call it brilliance.” Yakko said. His siblings were stifling giggles behind him. 

“I like them,” Wakko said. “They're funny.”

“Funny in the head maybe.” Dot quipped. 

“I can assure you children if we had not hit upon that little snag from earlier the plan would have worked without a hitch. As it is though, Pinky, I believe it is time to return to our lab. We have much to prepare for tomorrow night.” Brain said as he began to walk away Pinky dutifully following him.

“Why Brain? What are we doing tomorrow night?

“The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world.” 

The Warner siblings watched them go waving slightly which Pinky enthusiastically returned when he looked back.

“You know what sibs? I don't care if we get in trouble. I'm glad we taught that jerk a lesson.” Yakko said with a small smile and they continued the rest of the walk to Scratchy's office uninterrupted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I was writing with no real idea where I was going with this. Now I have a rough outline of a plot. Tags will be updated to incorporate what was added as I go. And sorry if there's any formatting issues. I intend to go through and edit this a little more at some point. I'm not new to using the site but am when it comes to posting. Commenters thanks you for the kind words. This one's for you. And as always if you have any critiques to add I'm all ears.


	4. Squirrel Antics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scratchensniff calls in backup from everyone's favorite crabby aunt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This little fic of mine is getting a bit more attention than I thought it would. So, hello to the nearly 1000 people that decided to check this out. Let me be the first to say I still don't know what I'm doing.

Days past with little to no notable changes. Otto would begin the day with the Warner's as his first appointment. They would arrive, spend the whole time bothering his nursing assistant or him, they would make no progress towards dezanifying them, and then he'd send them into the waiting room while he took care of his other appointments for the day. Meaning he was essentially making Nurse watch over them for the whole day. When this was all over he would need to recommend her for a raise, he decided. 

Today had began like any other and the Warner's had already come and gone. His next appointment wasn't scheduled until later in the day so he was instead using the time to think about his next plan of action regarding the Warner's. It was becoming abundantly clear that none of his methods were going to work. He'd never worked with such unruly patients that had no interest in trying to work with him. 

Currently, he was poring over the records of his old clients trying to gleam any sort of wisdom he could use for his current situation. One particular file ended up catching his eye. It was from many years ago from when he was first starting out. It was the file of Walter John Wolf, one of the very few toons he had taken as a client. Even back then, when the wolf was young, he had acted like a crotchety old man and had been sent to Otto by the studio. He'd had to help the wolf learn to be less argumentative with the directors and Otto had never felt like he'd made much progress with him.

It wasn't the wolf Otto was interested in though. Through the years of working with Walter he had gotten to know his co-stars, if only on a surface level. Last he'd heard about Slappy Squirrel was that the studio had approved her for retirement. She was currently settled down raising her nephew, Skippy. Hard in thought he picked up his desk phone and pushed the button that would send a line though to Nurse's phone.

“Yes, Doctor?” she asked upon answering. She sounded slightly strained and Otto could hear the indistinct muffled voices of the Warner's but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Yes, she definitely deserves a raise.

“Please cancel all my appointments today. And I would like you see if we have contact information for Slappy Squirrel.”

“Right away, Doctor.” Nurse said and hung up. A few moments later he had the phone number in front of him on his desk. Otto dialed it in and waited as the other line rung. He wasn't quite sure what to expect. 

“Hello, Squirrel residence! How can I help ya?” said the voice of a young boy in a chipper tone when the line picked up.

“Hello, you must be Skippy, ya? I need to speak to Slappy, is she available?” Otto jumped when an audible crash sounded from the other line.

“Aunt Slappy's kinda busy, actually. She's pounding the new neighbor.”

“Goodnight, everybody!” came Yakko's voice from the phone.

“Yakko, how are you talking through the phone?” Otto asked surprised.

“It's the other line, Doctor.” Came Nurse's voice though it sounded a little muffled. “You forgot to turn it off.”

“Aunt Slappy, I don't think your dynamite stick is supposed to go in that hole!” Came from Skippy followed by the sound of an explosion. “Ew, that's gonna hurt in the morning.”

“Say no more kid, we'll have to change the rating.” Yakko said from Nurse's line again followed by giggling. 

“Yakko, you hang up this instant and let Nurse get back to her job.” Otto snapped and closed the line himself.

“Wow, look at that pussy go!” Skippy said sounding awed. 

“Jeez, Skippy! Don't say things like that into the phone when they don't have the visual context! People are going to think I raised you wrong.” A new much older sounding voice said.

“Sorry, aunt Slappy.” Said Skippy sounding embarrassed. Otto heard the phone being passed off.

“Sorry about that, had some cats move in next door. They thought they had a taste for Squirrel. Had to chase them off just now. Now, whaddya want?”

“Hello, my name is Otto Scratchensniff the psychiatrist from Warner studios.”

“Speed this up, bub, I ain't got all day. Well, actually, I do, but I'm not going to spend it talking to you.”

“Actually, I was hoping that I could arrange a meeting in person.” He asked nervously. He didn't have a backup plan if she said no.

“A meeting? This some elaborate scheme to get an autograph, or somethin? She asked sounding skeptical. “If you're one of those crazy super fans I got no qualms of shoving a bomb down your pants, I'll have you know.”

“No! This is something different, I swear!” Otto held his breath waiting for the telltale click of a phone being hung up. 

“Explain then.” She said impatiently.

“Well, it's a long story, but recently I've been tasked with the care of three minors.”

“So? I'm not a nanny service. Skippy is family so he's an exception.”

“They're toon minors.”

“Still not giving me a reason to care, doc. If you don't give me a real reason for why you called me soon I'll be hanging up.” She said sounding frustrated.

“No, please! You're the only toon I know who's currently raising a child! I don't know what I'm doing!” Otto pleaded desperately.

“See, these are the kind of questions you should be bringing to their parents, or whoever it is that's taking care of them. Not bother an old squirrel and her nephew, who's just trying to live out her retirement in peace and quiet! Goodbye.”

“Wait! They don't have any! The studio has full custody and they passed them off to onto me!” This made Slappy pause. They sat in tense silence for a moment then Slappy replied.

“The studio owns them?”

“Yes, they passed the responsibility of guardianship down to me but I know nothing about toons or children. Nothing I try works on these kids and they seem to cause more trouble by the day!” Otto said in a flurry.

“...Alright. There's a park down near my place. I can meet you there tomorrow after Skippy is done with school. Grab a pen and write down the address.” Otto cheered silently to himself as he did as she said quickly scribbling it down.

“Thank you so much, miss Squirrel!” Otto said enthusiastically.

“Ugh, don't call me miss Squirrel. Slappy is fine. And don't be late! My days of waiting around for the studio are over and I intend to keep it that way.” She said and hung up without so much as a goodbye. Otto was both exasperated and elated at the same time. On the one hand, Slappy had been difficult to talk to over the phone and Otto had a feeling she would be worse in person. But, on the other hand, she was a toon! She could provide answers to questions he otherwise had no resources to answer on his own. Either way, he was stumped without her.

-

It turned out Slappy didn't live too far off from the lot, and the park was within a reasonable walking distance. She'd told Otto to bring along the kids so she could get a look at them.

The next day, when the appointed time drew near, Otto made sure to wrangle up the kids. They made him chase them halfway around the lot first but they had seemed pretty excited about the prospect of getting to walk around outside the lot. They were following along behind him when Ralph stopped them at the gate.

“Duuuh, the boss says I'm not supposed to let them out of the lot anymore.”

“What? Why not?” Otto asked surprised.

“Gee, uuh, the boss said they might damage the studios, uh, repetition.”

“I think you mean reputation,” Otto corrected. “And they already agreed to be on their best behavior. Right, kids?”

“We promise.” They chorused back at him.

“Well, gee, I guess if they promised.” Ralph finally agreed letting them pass.

“Hey, Doc, what was up with that?” Yakko asked as they walked. He was looking back the fading form of Ralph apprehensively.

“I guess Plotz thinks you might menace someone and they'd take it back to the studio. Don't worry, kids. Once we manage to change you you'll be allowed to come and go as you please.” Otto said cheerfully.

“Great.”Yakko replied. He didn't sound nearly as enthused as Otto did.

\- 

“Thought I told ya not to be late.” Slappy grouched when she saw them arrive.

“Sorry,” Otto apologized. “I was kid wrangling.” He gave the Warner's a hard stare which they returned with wide unapologetic grins.

“So you're the three that doc over here has been taking care of?” She asked appraising them. Yakko and Wakko immediately leaped forward giving her a stage bow.

“We're the Warner brothers!”

“And I'm the cute, funny, smart and perfect Warner sister!” Dot added.

“Is that so? Slappy Squirrel. Nice to meet ya. Now, brow eyes and I have some things to discuss. My nephew, Skippy, is around here somewhere. I'm sure he's looking for someone to play with.” The Warner's, who had been spending days cooped up in Scratchy's office or in his waiting room with Nurse, needed no further encouragement to go off on their own and explore.

“Don't go too far! And don't run out into the street!” Otto called out to them as they ran off. 

“Relax, they'll be fine. Toons are born tough.” Slappy said nonchalantly watching them go. “Now, you brought me out here to chat. So let's chat.” She sat on a nearby bench and waited for Otto to join her.

“I'm going to get straight to the point.” She said when Otto had seated himself next to her. “How does a big movie studio like WB suddenly acquire the custody of three toon minors and nobody knows a thing about them. They share the company name and they're complete unknowns? I don't buy it.”

“That's... confidential information to the studio.” Otto stammered.

“And here I thought you came here to talk. That's alright, I know Skippy came home with homework. He's been really struggling in science lately and will probably need my help again.” Slappy got up as if to leave. 

“Okay, point taken!” Otto sighed. “You might not believe me, I didn't either at first, but they came from the studio water tower.”

“They came from the studio water tower? I'm not here to solve riddles, Doc.” 

“It's true! I saw records and everything. An animator known as Lon Borax created these kids in the thirties, and when the studio couldn't control them, they locked them in the water tower. They just recently got out and have been driving everyone crazy ever since.” Otto explained hastily. Plotz would have his head if he knew he was discussing this out in the open with an unauthorized figure. Slappy's eyes narrowed at the information.

“So, you're telling me, that the Warner Brothers studio locked up a bunch of children for sixty years in complete isolation, in an uninhabitable living space, and after they get out you're having trouble with behavior? If you ask me, WB should have to take whatever destruction those kids can dish out. It sounds well enough deserved.” 

Her hard gaze bore into Otto's and for the first time he found himself really thinking about the Warner siblings situation. What must it have been like? Locked in a tower sitting in the dark forever. No way to tell when the days passed, never being able to go anywhere, holding out day after day knowing the only fate the future held for you was the same as the last. He would have gone insane. Completely coo coo in the head.

“Oh.” was all he had to say in response but Slappy must have noticed the recognition in his eyes.

“Yeah,” she said. “Oh.”

They sat in silence for a moment looking out over the park. The Warner's plus Skippy were playing some kind of game beneath a statue with three cooing toon pigeons sitting atop it.

“But they seem to like living there now that they have a choice.” Otto noted with a puzzled expression on his face. “Wakko even mentioned having his own bed. Maybe it wasn't so bad?”

“Sounds like they had enough time to develop their toon abilities to make it more livable but I doubt the studio was willing to provide any comforts. Humans can be so cruel.” She muttered darkly to herself.

The sound of play was growing louder as evidently the kids had started some form of squabble with the birds. Slappy chuckled along to their antics when the mallets came out. 

“And what a waste to boot. Those kids are pretty funny.” She said mirthfully but Otto was looking like he was about to start yelling.

“Those kids promised to behave themselves.” He grumbled but Slappy held out her arm to stop him.

“Sit down, doc, they're just playing.”

“But they're being zany and violent again. That's why I called you out here, the CEO said that behavior needs to end.”

“You really don't know a thing about toons, do you?” Slappy asked with a sigh. “If you want something that sits around quietly then your animation department should have drawn a goldfish. It wasn't enough to lock them away for sixty years now you're asking them to go against their very nature?”

“So, what should I do? Plotz will have my job if I don't get them under control.” Otto asked desperately.

Slappy reached into her purse pulling out a pen and paper. She quickly scrawled a name and phone number and handed it off to Otto.

“That's Skippy's pediatrician. He's pretty good with toon kids. You can get those three checked out and he can answer any questions you might have. And a little word of advice. If you want to start making any kind of progress with those kids then start treating them more like kids and less like a thorn in your side. They can pick up on things like that.”

Just then there was a rather large sounding bang that caught both Slappy's and Otto's attention. The statue the kids had been playing under was smoking from the bottom and starting to sway as its support crumbled. With a mighty crash it collapsed landing on top of the three screaming pigeons.

“I did it! I did it! Aunt Slappy, did you see? I summoned a bomb just like you!” Skippy was cheering. 

“Great job, kid. Real chip off the old block,” Slappy praised. “But I think that's our cue to leave.” 

While Skippy and the Warner's said their goodbyes Slappy gave Otto one last look.

“I'll leave the phone line open. You can give me a call if anything happens.” Then she, with nephew in tow, took off hastily down the street warily looking around for police as she went.

“We should go too, kids.” Otto said leading them out of the park and away from any damning evidence. 

“Scratchy, I'm hungry.” Wakko said pulling on his pant leg and looking at him pleadingly. The sun had begun to set but it would be a few hours yet before it was dark out. Otto supposed he had time to treat them to dinner before they went back to the lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go hope you enjoyed because I didn't enjoy writing this chapter. I must have rewrote it three times and I'm still not loving how it turned out but at some point you just have to push it out the door. You could probably guess but the pigeons were a goodfeathers cameo.
> 
> There probably won't be an update until next year so everyone have a happy holiday season and thank you for taking the time to read my fic.
> 
> By the way, I might at some point change the fic name and summary before next chapter comes out. It literally just pulled it out of my ass when I started because I didn't have a clue where I was going with this. Now, it doesn't really reflect the direction this story is going. 
> 
> As always critiques or even just pointing out errors you see are welcome and commentators should know even if I don't always respond I read them all and greatly appreciate the kind words.


	5. Making Progress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is 10% plot 90% tooth rotting fluff. I recommend brushing afterwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized that everyone's favorite thing in the world was going to see the doctor, so I wrote several pages worth of it.

Evening had fast approached and it was dark by the time they'd arrived back to the lot. It was a particularly clear night and the vast expanse of twinkling stars were on full display. On a normal day Otto would have had the kids back in the tower and be home by now. Tonight he had climbed up the ladder with them on their insistence that it was too nice a night to pass up star gazing.

“C'mon, I bet it's pretty rare for the sky to be this clear in Burbank.” Yakko said. “And if you thought your view was good you should see ours.”

“You can see for miles.” Wakko agreed.

“I don't know, kids, it's late and I should really be getting home...” Otto objected only to have Dot leap into his arms.

“Pwease, Scratchy?” She asked giving him her biggest puppy dog stare she could muster. 

“But I-.”

“Pwease, with a widdle bit of sugar on top?” Dot's eyes grew bigger than he thought possible and his resistance crumbled.

“Alright, just for a little while.” He finally coincided to the delight of the children. After a dizzyingly high climb he found himself practically clinging to the side of the water tower. Otto didn't considered himself afraid of heights but the water tower looked a lot higher from atop it than it had from the ground. He was very reluctant to approach the railings but clung to them unafraid.

“I missed the stars when we were locked away,” Dot mused. She had hopped up on the lowest rung of the railing so she could see over the top. Wakko stood to one side of her. He had begun howling at the slowly rising moon. Yakko, leaning on the railing in a relaxed position on her other side, gave her a playful nudge.

“Middle kid syndrome.” He teased which made Dot giggle. Mustering his courage Otto pried himself away from the tower wall and joined them at the railing. They certainly had been correct about the view. They could easily see the whole lot and far beyond. The city stretched into the horizon from all sides. Lights from different buildings and city traffic glittered in the distance as Burbank's night life began to come alive.

“Pretty nice, huh?” Yakko asked elbowing Otto in a friendly manner. “It's even better after sixty years in a water tower.”

“I can imagine.” Otto replied but in truth, when he tried to imagine not being able to see the sky for sixty years, he couldn't. When they'd first come to him Otto had believed that the studio must have been justified in locking up the Warner's in the tower. Now, he wasn't as sure. 

“Do you know any constellations, Scratchy?” Dot asked giving him a hopeful look. 

“Not many I'm afraid,” Otto answered. “Just the ones everyone knows.”

“We don't know the ones that everyone knows!” Dot said. She was turning on the cute eyes again.

“Alright, there's no need to beg.” He had all three siblings rapt attention. Even Wakko had stopped his doggish behavior to listen intently. Otto cleared his throat and scanned the sky locating the few constellations he knew and could see.

“See those small ones in a line up there?” He said pointing. “Those ones make up what we call the little dipper. It has an older brother known as the big dipper over... there.”

“Older brother, huh? Is he annoying like mine are?” Dot asked slyly shooting her brothers a mischievous grin.

“Annoying? When are we ever annoying?” Yakko asked faking being hurt. “Is it when we do something like... this?” Yakko began to lightly tickle Dot in her side.

“Or this?” Wakko asked, joining in assaulting her other side while she squealed in delight. 

“Stop it!” She gasped between giggles and they relented sharing a brotherly high five above her head.

“Ahem,” Otto interrupted, getting their attention again. “Anyway, the little dipper and big dipper are actually just a small part of a much bigger constellation known as the Ursa major and minor.” He explained.

“Why didn't you start with that?” Yakko asked inspecting the sky trying to find the rest of the stars. 

“Even on a clear night like tonight you wouldn't be able to see all the stars from a city. Too many lights.” Otto explained. 

“Aww,” they said in unison disappointed by the answer. Otto, not wishing to disrupt the moment, hurried to reassure them.

“Don't worry, kids. You're free now. You could leave Burbank, one day, if you wanted to. Go wherever you wanted. See the stars from all over the world if you wished.”

“I'd like that.”Dot said. But from their expressions Otto could tell none of them exactly believed him.

-

Ralph was waiting pensively for Otto at the bottom of the ladder when he finally climbed down. Yakko, Wakko and Dot had already gone inside by the time he'd reached the bottom. 

“The Boss wants to see you in his office before you leave tonight.” 

Otto sighed inwardly but allowed himself to be led to Plotz's office. He was way past the time he should have gone home and was certainly not getting paid to be here anymore. All he wanted to do was go. Ralph knocked quietly on Plotz's door upon arrival.

“Come in.” Came his boss's voice through the heavy wood. Ralph quietly opened the door and stood aside holding it open for Otto. He found Plotz sitting at his desk patiently waiting his arrival.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Otto asked apprehensively.

Scrathensniff,” he greeted. “Were we having fun?” He asked with a false pleasantness. Otto realized his office window had a direct line of sight to the studio water tower. He had probably been watching them from his window. 

“I was just answering some questions they had.” Otto defended himself. “Is that what this is about?” He was going to be angry if he was dragged all the way here for something so ridiculous. He had done nothing wrong.

“No, not for that,” Plotz said. “Though I don't think I need to remind you that I asked you to do a job not babysit. Ralph told me you even took them with you off the lot today.”

“Yes, well, I had to meet someone off the lot.”

“Then why did you have to bring the Warner's with you?” Plotz exploded. “We can somewhat contain their chaos when they're here but out there if they hurt someone or caused damage we'd be held responsible! Not to mention the bad publicity it would bring down on us!” He was heaving in rage by the time he was finished.

“I met someone who could help me dezanify the kids! She wouldn't have met me if I hadn't brought them!” Otto explained. Plotz took a deep breath regaining his composure.

“Then next time they're going to have to do without,” Plotz growled. “Because those kids are not to be leaving this lot.” Plotz sighed rubbing a hand down his face. 

“But that still isn't why I called you up here,” He continued. “I think I've found an alternative solution to all of our problems.”

“Sir?” Otto asked surprised.

“I've been doing some thinking, Scratchensniff. It was wrong of me to place the full responsibility of the Warner's onto you. You've been here for fifty years and before all this you did a fine job.” Plotz said.

“Sir!” Otto was shocked. He'd never expected to hear praise from Plotz especially not given the circumstances. 

“And I must admit you and your nursing assistant have been doing a fair job of mostly keeping those kids confined to your office,” Plotz finished.

“Thank you, sir.” Otto said still stunned by the praise. But he was still curious about the other method Plotz had mentioned. 

“What's the alternative?” he dared to ask. Plotz grinned at him. 

“I don't have any details for you yet but I've set up an important appointment for next week with someone who I believe can help us. I want you to be there. Without the Warners.” He emphasized.

“What should I do with them in the meantime?” Otto asked. He wondered who Plotz was going to have him meet and if they could really help.

“Keep doing what you've been doing with them, for now. We'll need a backup plan if this doesn't work out, so don't slack off.” Plotz said dismissing him. Otto was finally allowed to go home. He was very curious about what Plotz had in mind but by the time his head hit his pillow a wave of tiredness had washed over him. He stopped thinking about it entirely and sleep came quickly.

-

Two mornings later Otto was breaking Plotz's new rule again. He'd went ahead and made an appointment with that doctor Slappy had recommended. Plotz had said not to slack, after all. Despite what Plotz might think Otto knew this was the only way to dezanify the kids and if he had to go behind Plotz's back a little, he would. He'd called the place and scheduled it as early in the morning that he was allowed. That's when Plotz was usually busiest. Hopefully, too busy to notice Otto herding three sleepy kids to his car from his window. 

Evidently, the Warners were not morning people. Yakko and Dot were tiredly bickering amongst themselves, something about Yakko having used the wrong toothbrush, and Wakko was complaining about how he had to go to the bathroom.

“You should have gone before you left the tower, Wakko. You knew we were running late. Yakko, Dot, quit squabbling! I will not be putting up with that the whole ride there!” He chastised as they all climbed into his car. They sat in the back together and Otto instructed them to hide under the blanket he'd put back there when they drove past Ralph's gate. Thankfully, it was enough to fool him and he didn't ask any questions. 

Despite his earlier words, Yakko and Dot had bickered the whole drive. Wakko, thankfully, had been quiet but hadn't been able to sit still continuously squirming and occasionally kicking the back of Otto's seat. Everyone was relieved when they arrived at the clinic.

“Oh, thank you!” Wakko called dashing out of the car as fast as his legs would carry him. He dashed inside yelling 'potty emergency' into the lobby. Otto held his fingers up to his temples and shook his head. He hoped that no one else had an appointment this early. Yakko and Dot's fight was quickly forgotten when they exited the car their attention taken by their new environment instead. He lead them inside where Wakko was badgering a very flustered looking receptionist. Otto saw her point in a direction and Wakko took off toward it at a run .

“Sorry,” Otto apologized. “He's mine. We're here to check in.” 

“Oh, it was no trouble.” She said with a friendly smile. She was an older woman, nearing retirement if Otto had to guess.

“My, you have such cute little darlings with you.” She cooed at Yakko and Dot.

“Well, she's got good taste.” Dot said looking validated. 

“So,” Yakko said leaning his elbow on the check in desk. “It's a good thing we're in a hospital because, uhhhh, I think I'm burning up.” He leaned his back dramatically onto the desk placing his elbow over his eyes.

“I think I might need a nurse. Maybe two or three.” He said waggling his eyebrows.

“Yakko!” Otto snapped. Yakko gave him a sheepish grin.

“Such a naughty thing, too!” The receptionist chuckled amused. Wakko, having come back, joined them. He heaved a sigh of relief.

“I thought I was going to explode!” He exclaimed, loudly. He jumped onto the woman's desk and grabbed her hand giving it a firm grab. 

“Thank you so much!” He gave her a delighted handshake. 

“Careful, he doesn't wash his hands when he's done.” Dot said and giggled when the woman pulled her hand away.

“Wakko, that's disgusting.” Otto said disapprovingly. “Go back right now and wash your hands. Yakko, go with him to make sure he does it.”

“You heard the man.” Yakko said nudging him off the table. Reluctantly, he trudged back the way he came with Yakko trailing behind him.

“I'll check you in right away but first, do you mind?” The receptionist asked indicating her hand with an awkward smile.

“Not at all.” Otto replied and she took off in the direction the kids went. 

Check in went smoothly after that and soon they found themselves waiting in a brightly lit doctors office. 

“Alright, kids, here's the deal. You guys behave yourselves during this then we'll get lunch and ice cream after this.” 

“Ice cream?” they asked clearly excited. 

“Only if you do exactly what the doctor tells you to. Got it?” He asked sternly.

“Loud and clear, doc!” Yakko said.

“Good. Any questions?” Otto asked.

“Just one,” Yakko said and by the mischievous gleam in his eye's Otto knew he wasn't going to like it. 

“Are you gonna be okay when we meet the... you know... other doc?” He asked.

“Yakko, being a psychologist does not make me any less of a doctor then he is.” Otto growled annoyed.

“Sure, I mean, you know that. And we know that. But does he know that?” Yakko asked innocently and Otto felt his temper snap. He flung himself out of his chair with a shout. 

“I am just as real of a doctor as he is, Yakko!”

“Should I come back later?” Came a voice from behind him. Otto jumped and whirled around. Peeking in from the door was a young dark skinned man with curly black hair and wide amber eyes behind a pair if sophisticated glasses. 

“Hello, doctor!” Dot cried leaping out of her seat and flinging herself at the surprised man. She wrapped her arms around his leg and looked up at him adoringly. 

“So, I've been told you're good with kids.” She said blinking up at his with doe eyes.

“Not in that way.” He replied plucking Dot off his leg and placing her back down in front of him.

“Let's just keep it professional, okay?” He said with a teasing smile. Then he turned his attention to the rest of the room.

“My name is Doctor Fell Goodman, but you can just call me Fell. All my friends do.” He said with a wink.

“Fell Goodman?” Yakko asked. “I wonder what made you choose to be a doctor.”

“Yeah, I get that all the time.” He laughed. “But let's talk about you three. I've heard you've never been to a doctor before.” 

“Oh, that has to sting.” Yakko said making all three kids snicker. Otto slapped his hand to his forehead. 

“Yakko...” Otto said warningly. This only made him laugh harder.

“Okay, enough jokes.” Fell said clapping his hands to get their attention. “I'm sure you can torture your guardian all you want later but let's get this done first.”

“Oh, alright.” Yakko reluctantly agreed. 

They were there for a long time. Because none of the kids had any previous medical records they'd had to do all sorts of tests. He measured them, took their weight, checked their ears, eyes and lungs, took their blood pressure and tested their reflexes. He's had to make a dive to avoid getting clobbered when checking Wakko's. 

“Sorry,” Wakko said looking sheepish. “Reflexes.”

“At least we know I'm on top of mine.” Fell chuckled. He gave Wakko an affectionate rub on his hat.

“You kids are doing a great job, so far.” Fell said after awhile. “We're almost done I just want to ask you guys a few questions and take an ink sample from each of you. How's that sound?” 

“Great, I'm ready to get out of here.” Yakko replied. He had quickly grown tired of being poked and prodded and he could tell his siblings felt the same. Yakko could also see Wakko was slowing down and that they needed to get him something to eat soon. 

“While we wait for my nursing assistant to get the that ready I want you guys to answer a question for me. Be honest.” Fell said giving them a serious look. 

“I can only get so far checking you guys out with a stethoscope so I want you guys to tell me if you've ever noticed anything wrong. Like, if you ate a certain food and reacted badly to it or if you get itchy in the spring. Try to think of things like that.” He explained.

“When I eat dairy I feel really sick.” Yakko offered and Fell smiled proudly at him.

“Good, that's exactly what I want to know.” He praised. “You're probably lactose intolerant. We can run a few tests later to make sure but I think it's safe to say you'll be fine if you keep avoiding it. Anyone else?”

“One time I passed out.” Wakko said. Fell gave him a very concerned look.

“Do you remember what you were doing when you passed out?” He asked worriedly. 

“No.” Wakko said shaking his head. “I remember feeling really hungry and it was making me feel sick so I went to take a nap. Then I woke up with Yakko and Dot crying over me.” He looked guiltily at his siblings. 

“It was really scary!” Dot added. “He was making noises but I couldn't get him to wake up no matter how much I shook him.” 

“We had the idea to get some food in him.” Yakko said quietly. He was staring off towards the floor not looking at anyone. “He woke up after that.”

“I'm sorry,” Fell said sympathetically. “That must have been really scary.” Otto placed a comforting hand on Yakko's shoulder. 

“We'll find out what's wrong and make sure that never happens again.” Fell promised reassuringly. “That's what doctors are for.” 

There was a quiet knock on the door then a young woman peeked her head in.

“Doctor, I have everything ready for you.”

“Excellent. Thank you Nurse.” He said taking the instrument she handed him. 

“Hellooooo Nurse!” Yakko and Wakko chorused together, standing in their chairs, the previous moment forgotten.

“Oh, I was warned about you.” She said to Yakko with a wink.

“Only good things, I hope?” Yakko asked batting his eyes.

“We'll see if you live up to them.” She said with a smile.

“Alright, kids, this is the last thing we need to do today.” Fell said gaining their attention. In his hand he held a syringe attached to a vial by a thin tube. The playful mood the Warner's had been in dropped as they zeroed in on the thin needle. 

“You're gonna stick us with that?” Wakko yelped drawing away from it like it would come to life and attack him.

“I know it's scary,” the doctor said sympathetically. “But we have to do it. After this you can all go home. Yakko, do you mind going first?” 

Yakko gulped looking extremely nervous. But he knew he had been picked so he could set an example for his siblings. 

“Okay...” He said for once not having anything clever to say. He was instructed to sit on the edge of the examining table. The doctor and nurse come to stand on both sides.

“Okay, Yakko, I want you to count back from five for me and on one I'm going to stick it in. Deal?”

“Okay,” Yakko agreed. “Five, four, three- ow!” He yelped. Fell had pushed it in early.

“I thought you were going to wait until one!” He protested.

“You were so focused on getting to one you didn't focus how much it was going to hurt. That wasn't so bad now was it.”

“I... guess not...” Yakko said falteringly. It didn't take long for the tiny vial to fill with a black inky substance. Fell quickly capped off the vial and removed the needle from Yakko's arm with a quick but gentle tug. It was quickly covered with a bandage and Yakko was allowed to go back to his seat. 

“Wakko, will you go next?” Fell asked.

“No, no, nonono.” Wakko yelped fearfully. He squeezed himself under Yakko's chair and hid there.

“That's alright, you don't have to go next.” Fell said. “How about you, Dot?” 

“I'm not scared.” Dot said trying to keep a brave face but her light trembling gave her away. Wordlessly, Yakko offered her his hand which she immediately latched onto. He tried to hold back a wince at her tight grip.

The same process was repeated with Dot and then it was Wakko's turn. He was still curled up under Yakko's chair pressing himself as close to the wall as he could get. His tail was bushed to twice its normal size and he was letting out fearful little whines.

“Wakko, it's okay.” Otto tried to reassure him. “Your brother and sister are already done and they're fine.”

“It didn't even hurt that bad.” Dot added.

“No!” He yelped refusing to budge. He had started crying and was nearing a full blown meltdown. 

Yakko got down on his knees and forcefully dragged Wakko out. He continued to protest and struggle but ceased when his brother pulled him into a comforting embrace. 

“You can sit on my lap. I'll be with you the entire time.”

Trembling, Wakko hid his face into his brother's chest but allowed himself to be carried over to the table. He let out a pitiful whine when the needle was stuck. Yakko rubbed his back comfortingly.

“Great job, guys!” The doctor praised when he was finished. “I think think they deserve a treat, don't you nurse?”

“You kids like candy?” She asked them. The kids, looking worn out, perked up at the mention of sugary sweets. 

“Come on, I'll let you each pick a piece out.” She said leading them out of the room. Wakko, particularly worn out from his emotional outburst, clung to his brother when Yakko tried to set him down. Relenting, Yakko adjusted his grip so he could carry him. Wakko placed his head on his brother's shoulder and closed his eyes content to hang limply and rest in his arms.

“Those are some great kids you got there.” Fell said to Otto.

“I know.” He replied with a small smile on his face. “Now if you'll excuse us we're going to go get ice cream. A deal is a deal, after all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I know I said I wouldn't update until after the holidays but my circumstances changed. Bad for me but good for you, I guess. 
> 
> You all are blowing me away with the kind comments. Seriously, thank you. I'm glad this sparks joy.
> 
> Every chapter seems to be longer than the last. Consistency? I hardly know her.


	6. Jurassic Warners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An attempt as a classic Warner chase scene was made and then exposition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was another chapter I struggled with writing. It wasn't one I particularly wanted to make but it needed to exist to get where we're going. But I tried my best to make it fun so enjoy. 
> 
> By the way, I can't find a place to inject it this in naturally, believe me I tried, but I headcanon Yakko and Dot having adhd and Wakko has autism. I guess it has no real bearing on the story overall but I still wanted to add it in. I hope I've been doing an okay job of trying to portray it instead.

The next day, Ralph had brought in his charges slung over his shoulder in his net, as was routine. Currently, they had settled themselves comfortably on the floor of his office trying to amuse themselves with the toys and games Nurse had gotten for them. He and Nurse had learned very early on that if they didn't provide the kids some form of entertainment they were very likely to go find it on their own.

Yakko and Dot were absorbed in a very intense game of checkers. Wakko was content to lie on his back near them and watch. Occasionally a squeak could be heard from the rubber bone he held in his mouth. Nurse had noticed Wakko tended to like chewing on things so, in an attempt to save their furniture, she had gotten him an assortment of chew toys from the pet store. He also liked to eat them when he was done.

As much of a priority the Warner's were Otto still had other clients to tend to. He feared he would start losing patients if he continued to put them off. Worse yet Nurse has called in so he was left to deal on his own.

“Kids,” he called them over. “You're going to be on your own today. I need you to promise me you'll stay in the waiting room and out of trouble.”

“Aw, come on, Scratchy! That's so boring.” Dot whined.

“Yeah, we don't mind when Nurse is here but she's not. What are we supposed to do all day?” Yakko said looking cross.

“You have all those games Nurse got for you.” Otto said.

“We'll get bored of those eventually!” Yakko whined.

“We want to meet movie stars!” Wakko added.

“ _Promise?_ ” Otto asked.

“Fine...” Yakko sighed put out. The younger Warners pouted at him but went along with what their brother said. Otto felt a bit guilty but shooed them out of his office. He hoped they behaved themselves.

-

“If we have to play anymore Uncle Wiggly or Candy Land I'm going to scream!” Dot complained from her position on the floor. She was lying on her belly looking like she was trying to sink into the floor.

“You're just mad because you lost that last round.” Wakko teased. She threw a game piece at his head.

“I know what you mean.” Yakko agreed. “Everyday, we're either stuck in here or the tower. I'm ready for a change of scenery.”

“Are we sneaking out?” Dot asked looking excited.

“What about our promise?” Wakko asked.

“The way I see it,” Yakko said. “Is that Scratchy is going to be spending all day in that room.” He indicated the door leading to Scratchy's office.

“So, he won't notice if we don't spend all day in this room.” He concluded.

“Works for me!” Wakko said with a grin.

“Can we see if they still have the t-rex animatronic from Jurassic Park?” Dot asked having sprung to her feet and was lightly bouncing on her heels in her excitement.

“I want to find food first. I'm hungry.” Wakko said.

“When are you not hungry, brother?” Yakko teased giving his back a gentle pat. “Though, I bet we can find a couple boxes of donuts in the employee break room.”

“Then dinosaurs?” Dot plead.

“Then dinosaurs.” Yakko agreed.

Sneaking out of Scratchy's waiting room had been as simple as opening a door but they had to stay out of sight once they left. Most employees knew them on sight now and were always quick to report them to Plotz. Thankfully, they managed to find the break room without running into anyone. Yakko cracked the door open and peeked inside. He ushered his siblings in when he confirmed the room was empty.

“Jackpot.” He said pointing to a counter at the far side of them room. There sat several unopened packages of the sugary sweets they had come seeking. Wakko wasted no time in grabbing three of them, ripping them open, and gorging himself. Somehow, he and Dot had both managed to swipe a donut for themselves without losing their hands in the process.

“Are you sure we're related?” Dot asked watching Wakko with a look of disgust.

“Last I checked we all came from the same cel, we're the only three of our species, and we all look exactly alike, but I guess it could be possible he's adopted.” Yakko replied. They all froze at the sound of the door creaking open behind them.

“Warner brothers!” Ralph said surprised.

“And the Warner sister! Honestly, what does a girl have to do to get some recognition?” Dot pouted crossing her arms. Ralph's look of surprise was slowly morphing into one of anger.

“Looks like you caught us, Ralph. Guess we have no choice but to come quietly. You'd better hurry though because we're getting away!” Yakko said pointing at nothing behind Ralph.

“Stop Warners!” Ralph yelled whirling around. Of course, he saw no one behind him but when he turned back they had already disappeared. Letting out a great bellow of frustration he threw himself out the door. He spotted them fleeing down the hallway and gave chase.

“Any ideas?” Dot asked easily keeping pace with her brothers. They were all a lot faster than Ralph, even without the use of toon speed, but Ralph was persistent. Most often, the only way he was able to catch them was by surprise. He'd sneak up with his net long after they'd thought they'd lost him. The other times he just got lucky.

“We can probably hide in the storage warehouses at the far end of the lot.” Yakko suggested leading his siblings outside. “There probably won't be too many other people over that way.”

They raced across the lot with Ralph hot on their heels. Thankfully, the door to the first warehouse was unlocked when they reached it. Yakko paused to flick on the light switch when they entered.

“Whoa,”they said in unison as the lights flickered to life. All around them were shelves upon shelves of props and set pieces from various movies the studio had put out. They didn't have time to admire it long as Ralph burst through the door behind them.

“Stop running, Warners!” Ralph panted.

“Do you think that's ever worked?” Yakko asked his siblings as they raced off again. Dot gave him a shrug.

“Guys, look! Batmobile!” Wakko said pointing. “Faboo!”

“Oooo- do you think they left the keys in it?” Yakko asked skidding to a stop in front of the door. He yanked on the handle but it was unfortunately locked.

“Maybe we can find it,” Dot said beginning to rummage through the shelves. He and Wakko quickly joined her.

“Yakko, look!” She called with a mischievous grin holding up what she found. She hadn't found the key but in her hand she was holding three of the prop Batarangs from the movies. They each took one from her and turned to face Ralph who had lost sight of them among the maze of shelves.

“Hey, Ralph!” Yakko called when he rounded the corner and spotted them.

“I am the night!” He yelled chucking his Batarang as hard as he could his siblings following suit. Ralph screamed and dove to the side subsequently knocking the shelf he was next to over. It went down with a crash knocking over several more in a domino effect.

“Oh, I hope insurance covers that.” Yakko said with a wince. While Ralph was still recovering Yakko lead his siblings further into the warehouse. Upon rounding a corner they skidded to a stop letting out little awed gasps.

“T-rex!” Dot exclaimed excited. Yakko looked around for a door they could use to escape but they had ended up at a dead end.

“Yous really done it now, Warners!” Ralph yelled catching up to them cutting off their only exit.

“Uh oh,” Wakko said. “What do we do now?”

“There!” Yakko pointed towards the ceiling. “We can get to those rafters from the t-rex's head.” Yakko quickly hoisted his siblings up onto the animatronic's back and they in turn pulled him up. Balancing precariously they managed to climb up to the dino's head. Their added weight caused the dino to lurch forward.

Yakko lost his footing and slid down the t-rex's snout. His claws instinctively came out scratching along the t-rex's face as he fought for grip. He was able to catch himself on the tip of its nose his legs dangling in front of its open mouth.

“Yakko!” Wakko and Dot cried worriedly.

“Maybe, this was a bad idea.” Yakko grunted scrambling to pull himself up. Wakko reached down as far as he dared trying to grab him. His added weight, plus Yakko's swaying, caused the t-rex to lurch again pitching all three kids from its head. They screamed as they fell.

“Warners!” Cried Ralph racing in to catch them. He caught them before they hit the floor and dove to safety just as the t-rex finally came crashing down. The siblings sat on Ralph's chest, too stunned to move, as he caught his breath beneath them. Finally, he was able to stand. He grabbed all three Warners by their scruffs and hoisted them into the air; Yakko in one hand, Wakko and Dot in the other. For once, they didn't struggle instead instinctively curling their bodies as Ralph carried them out of the destroyed warehouse.

“The boss isn't going to be very happy with you Warners.” Ralph growled. The sibling shared a nervous look between them.

-

Much like the day he had first met the Warners, Otto had Plotz nearly kicking his door down in his raging fit. The Warners were sitting at Ralph's feet were he had dropped them avoiding Otto's gaze as best they could.

“-and so many priceless classic movie memorabilia! Destroyed! You'll be lucky if I don't take it out of your paycheck!” Plotz was yelling.

“I'm sure they-” Otto tried to interject but Plotz wasn't letting up.

“Not to mention they completely broke the t-rex animatronic!” A look of horror passed over his face. “We'll have to use a different dinosaur for Jurassic Park 3. Audiences will hate it!”

“You could always CGI the dinosaurs.” Yakko suggested unhelpfully.

“CGI the dinosaurs!” Plotz humphed.

“Audiences aren't going to pay to see badly done CGI dinosaurs!” He bellowed in Yakko's face. The kids shrank away from him.

“What I want to know,” Plotz snarled at Otto. “Is why you weren't doing your job and watching them?”

“I had clients today! They can't exactly sit in during those!” Otto defended himself.

“Where was Nurse? You have an assistant for a reason, Scratchensniff!”

“She called in today!” Otto shrugged.

“So, you just left them to their own devices?” Plotz asked angrily.

“There was nothing else I could do!” Otto sputtered helplessly. “They promised to behave so I-”

“And you _believed_ them?” Plotz asked incredulously. “Scratchensniff, sixty years ago the CEO before me deemed it necessary to _lock them in a tower_ because they couldn't keep them contained! You think a promise from _them_ will mean anything?”

There was nothing Otto could say to answer Plot's question. This morning, he had believed that the kids would keep their word. He obviously he had been proven wrong. Otto turned his gaze to the kids sitting on the floor. They had their gazes firmly fixed on the floor and had sad frowns on their faces.

“This will not be happening again.” Plotz said. “When Nurse comes in tomorrow you'll be telling her that she won't be having any more days off until we have a permanent solution to the Warners. I don't care if she came down with the plague, she had better be here! And as for you, you won't be taking anymore clients until then, either!”

“You can't do that!” Otto gasped shocked.

“I can and will!” Plotz said. “So, I suggest until we have our little meeting next week, you keep those brats under control.”

Without time for anyone to get a word in edgewise, Plotz stormed out, slamming the door as he went. With Plotz no longer around to draw his attention Otto turned it towards the Warner children.

“Um, I guess I'll leave too.” Ralph said picking up on the growing tension and feeling increasingly awkward about it. He made a hasty retreat out the door and they were left alone.

“I thought we had a deal.” Otto growled trying to contain his growing temper.

“We just-” Yakko tried to explain finally braving looking at him.

“You just what, Yakko?” Otto exploded unable to contain himself. “What was so important that caused you three broke your word and sneak out to destroy a warehouse full of priceless memorabilia?”

He paced in front of his desk as he ranted. The kids sat in silence, back to looking at the floor, as he raved at them.

“-and Ralph was just doing his job and you threw knives at him!? Knives!?” Otto continued raging.

“They were just props it's not like they were real.” Dot muttered.

“It doesn't matter, Dot! Ralph still could have been hurt! And how could you think climbing up the t-rex was a good idea? _You_ could have been hurt! And now it's broken and I'll be lucky if Plotz decides not to take it out of my paycheck. Which, will be an issue because I make money through my clients and if I can't take them anymore I won't be getting paid!” Otto ranted.

“We're sorry, Scratchy...” Wakko croaked. He and Dot both looked like they were holding back tears.

“Sorry won't stop Nurse from getting punished for doing nothing wrong. What am I supposed to tell her?” Otto snapped.

“We're restless!” Yakko tried to explain instinctively stepping up to shield his siblings. “We spend all day sitting quietly in your office then they lock us in the tower at night. We're toons, we're not made to sit around all day!”

“I don't want to hear your excuses right now, Yakko.” Otto snapped. “In fact, I don't want to see you three for the rest of the day. Have Ralph escort you back to your tower and stay there.” Otto turned his back to them and rubbed his temples with his fingers. He's gotten so worked up that he'd given himself a migraine.

He heard the door open as they forlornly headed out. Yakko, being the last to leave, hesitated.

“Doc, this is my fault. Please, don't take it out on Wakko and Dot. They were just following my lead.”

“I'm sure they were but that doesn't make them free from responsibility, Yakko.” Otto said.

“Please, Scratchy. We're all really sorry.” Yakko pleaded.

“Just go, Yakko.” Otto interrupted. He wasn't quite ready to accept the apology from him.

“Sometimes,” he said. “I think we'd all have been better off if you three had stayed in that tower.”

There was a sharp intake of breath. Otto had gone too far and he knew it but at the moment he was too angry to feel guilt. The door clicked shut as Yakko pulled himself away and Otto was left to stew in his own thoughts.

-

The next morning was quiet. Nurse, of course, hadn't been too pleased by the news but patience was one of her many virtues. She was able to contain whatever emotions she might have felt when the kids were around her. Perhaps because of that they had spent the morning hiding out with her.

The kids had been avoiding him all morning. He supposed that was to be expected. They were probably scared he'd still be mad at them. He was, but not to the point he'd still yell at them. He was busy contemplating how to approach the situation as things now stood, when the phone rang.

“Hello,” he said apprehensively into the receiver. He'd told Nurse to screen all his calls today so if she had let one through it must have been urgent.

“Hey, doc.” Came a familiar crotchety voice. “How do you feel about attending an eight year old's birthday party, today? Attendance is mandatory.”

“An... eight year old's birthday party...?” He repeated dumbfounded. He hadn't known what to expect when he'd answered the phone but this had not been it.

“Yeah. I guess Skippy grew attached to those Warner kids from the one time they met. Said he wants them here and won't take 'no' for an answer.” She explained.

“Personally, I think he really only wants one of them here but don't tell her brothers that.” She added in a low tone and chuckled.

“They can't go.” Otto said firmly. He was in no mood to bring the kids anywhere much less to a birthday party.

“Hey, I'm not disappointing my nephew on his birthday.” Slappy said cross.

“I said no.”

“Aw, come on. It'll be good for those kids to interact with people their own age.” Slappy urged.

“They're grounded!” He said scrambling for excuses.

“Then un-ground them! Like I told your nurse I'm not taking no for an answer.” Slappy said. “I'll level with you. Either you come to me or I bring my little gaggle of eight years old's to you. I bet Plotz will love it.”

There wasn't much Otto could say to that. He didn't have to know Slappy well to know she meant it.

“Now that I think about it, giving the kids an unexpected tour of the Warner Brothers lot would give Skippy bragging rights for the rest of the year.” Slappy mused.

“Alright!” Otto said giving up. Overall, it wasn't worth the argument. Besides, it wasn't like he had anything better to do seeing as he was banned from practicing his actual job.

“Glad we see eye to eye on this, doc.” Slappy said pleased.

-

Plotz would have his head if he knew he was sneaking the kids off the lot again after what had transpired. Thankfully, Nurse continued to be willing to cover for them. Despite how Yakko and Wakko annoyed her she did appear to have a soft spot for the three of them.

The kids were sitting in the back of his car as he drove in a bewildered silence. They'd gone from cautiously avoiding Otto to being taken to a party by him within the same day. It was confusing to them to say the least.

Both human and toon children alike were running around the base of Slappy's old tree when they pulled up. Otto ushered them out and figured they would have no trouble joining in the fun. Instead, he had never seem them look more out of their element. Even the ever confident Yakko looked uncertain of himself among the crowd of regular children.

“Warners!” Skippy called excitedly running to greet them. “I didn't know you were coming!”

“Neither did we until a few moments ago.” Yakko said.

“C'mon, I can introduce you guys to my school friends.” Skippy said. He took Dot's hand which caused them both to blush and dragged her away. Her brothers were quick to follow. Otto went to look for Slappy.

“I thought Skippy wouldn't take no for an answer.” He said when he found her resting in her armchair.

“Eh, had to say something. I bet those kids have never even been around other people their age. This'll be good for them, trust me.” Otto sighed and seated himself on her couch.

“What did the rascals do, anyway? Or is this some stuffy studio business that won't let children be children?” Slappy asked. Otto recounted the previous days events and by the end of it Slappy was laughing in her seat.

“It's not funny! My career could be ruined from all this.” Otto said.

“Well, what did you expect? Toon kids are like normal kids on cocaine. They need the chance to get out and burn off all that excessive kid energy. Office environments aren't really conducive to that.”

“About that,” Otto said thoughtfully. “I've been wondering for awhile now but why are they still children when toons like you and Skippy are clearly aging?

“Simple,” Slappy replied. “With toons it's not how old you are but how old you feel.”

“What does that mean?” Otto asked.

“Okay, let's take Skippy and I for example. I'm a drawn toon so I was 'born' as a young adult. But I had a successful career and lived a long, fulfilling life. My body is old because it reflects where I feel I should be in life. Skippy was born so he started out as a baby but he's had experiences like going to school and birthday parties that make him feel like he's growing. But those Warner kid's have had normal childhoods completely denied to them.”

“So you're saying the Warner's are... stuck?”

“I'm not the psychologist here but that'd be my guess. Like age regression except your body follows suit.” Slappy explained.

“Is that necessarily a bad thing?” Otto asked.

“I know you humans like to aggrandize the idea of immortality and eternal youth but being stuck as a child forever isn't all it's cracked up to be. You miss out on some of the best parts of life.”

She was looking out the window at Skippy with a fond smile on her face. Otto's eye sought out his own charges. Skippy was successfully getting them hyped up on sugar by shoving cake and candy at them. Their shyness was quickly forgotten as the sugar rush took hold.

“Maybe they'd be better off if we handed them off to social services.” Otto sighed warily. “Plotz doesn't even like them so I don't understand he's so insistent on changing their behavior when we should have done that from the beginning.”

“It's their contracts,” Slappy replied grimly. “If they were drawn all the way back in the thirties then they have them.”

“What contracts?” Otto asked. “Why would the studio have them sign contracts? They never worked for them.”

“They didn't sign them they were born into it,” Slappy said. “It's a dirty trick studios used to pull. The animation process is expensive. They didn't want to put in the effort of having toons made for them to up and decide they had a deeply held passion for making bread or something else and had no interest in making cartoons. Their animators would sign it on their behalf.”

“What do these contracts usually say?” Otto asked.

“Usually, the toon in question has to has to produce enough material to at least make enough money to cover the cost it took to make them. Once the studio has deemed they've made enough that toon will be approved to apply for retirement. After that, the studio has no say in how that toon decides to live their life,” Slappy explained.

“You made cartoons for Warner Brothers for a long time,” Otto said. “Did it really take that long to work off your contract?” She had retired while he had been working there but he knew she had been there for far longer than him.

“Nah, I stuck around willingly,” she said puffing her chest out proudly. “I enjoyed making my cartoons and I take great pride in them. We were successful too. If the director got too uppity I'd give him a good whack and the all the studio could do was stand by and watch. We were making them far too much money at the time for them to can us.”

“But that was from back when toon life was new,” Otto pointed out. “Toon civil rights have come a long way since then. Would contracts like that even still be legally bound?” Otto asked incredulous.

“By the time we reached a point where courts would even consider looking into those contracts most toons had already gotten out of them. And then those toons started having families naturally and people got scared our population would go out of control. They made it illegal for anymore toons to be made by human means so we didn't bother fighting it.”

“So, what, Plotz can just do whatever he like to them legally?” Otto asked sadly the full situation finally sinking in.

“Yeah, basically.” Slappy said.

“Is there nothing we can do?” Otto asked.

“Well,” Slappy placed a hand on her chin thoughtfully. “If you could convince Plotz to let them have their own show then maybe they become a hit. They could earn their retirement and the studio wouldn't be responsible for them anymore.”

“That'll never work. Plotz hates those kids.” Otto said disappointed. There was no way Plotz would let those kids have their own show.

“Doc, let me tell you what I think. Deep down, you care about those kids and their well being. Much more than Plotz or any of those people that would see those kids locked up again. It's not good for those kids to spend their whole lives in a place that doesn't want them. They don't stand a chance on their own.”

Otto knew Slappy was right. The Warner's had endeared themselves to him during the last few months he had spent with them. He had seen for himself that they were not what people believed them to be. He also knew that if left on their own they wouldn't stand a chance against Plotz and his unfair bias.

“I'm having a meeting with him in a few days. I can try to convince him them.” Otto said with a newfound determination.

“See to it that you do. You're their best hope for a real life.”

Otto surprisingly enjoyed the rest of the party. Otto found Slappy's dry wit and cranky disposition to be very amusing. They spent the rest of the party swapping stories about the long time they had spent working for the studio. He found himself feeling they could be friends if they kept up with the visits.

The inevitable sugar rush that came when kids ate cake and candy had come and gone. The kids were sleeping in his back seats, Yakko in the middle with one sibling on each side, heads resting on his shoulders. Soft snores could be heard from all of them. Otto felt himself gently smiling at the site. His anger had dissipated during the party and he was feeling pretty bad for the way he had yelled at the kids the previous night. Seeing them now, curled up together, he wondered how he had seen them as anything close to a threat. Otto resolved to apologize to the Warners in the morning but as he drove them home the thought slipped from his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up until now I've tried to keep all these chapters relatively light hearted with things only implied here and there. But there is something you all don't know about me. I don't read stories that are all fluff and comedy and good feels. The stories I tend to like most tend to hurt. So, this is your warning, those tags are about to become a lot more real and in focus. 
> 
> Thank you for all the nice comments. We're coming up on the end soonish so buckle up because it'll get worse before it gets better.


	7. Things Go Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plotz's plan is revealed! And everyone is worse off for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to come out. I had the dreaded writer's block and then a bunch of stuff happened in my life that affected my ability to even think about fic, let alone write it. But I won't talk about that here. I hope this chapter was worth the wait for you.

It was the morning of the meeting. Otto had made sure to get the kids up early and settled in his office. Things couldn't go wrong if he was going to try to convince Plotz to take a chance on the Warners. He also had a very bad feeling about the man’s so called alternative. He was sure whatever it was wouldn't be in the Warner’s best interest.

“Make sure they stay out of trouble today, Nurse.” Otto said nervously to her. He had explained what he had learned the other day and what he was planning to propose to Plotz. Unsurprisingly, she was completely on board and willing to do what she could to help. 

“I’d rather come with you, doctor. I can vouch for them and it’ll be two against one.” Nurse said.

“I know,” Otto sighed. “But I don’t trust leaving them on their own again. Plus, they listen to you sometimes. I wouldn’t trust anyone else watching them.”

Nurse smiled teasingly. “You sound like a father leaving his children with the babysitter for the first time.”

“I do not!” Otto sputtered, embarrassed. “I’m just a man trying to save his fifty year long career!”

“So you say, yet you’re really sticking your neck out for them.” Nurse pointed out. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you growing attached.”

“I’m only doing what anyone would do.” Otto huffed, looking away. Nurse laughed at his flushed face. She waved him out the door and he began his trek across the lot to the main building. Above him the sky rumbled as dark clouds hung heavy. He quickened his step not wanting to be caught outside when the storm broke.

He had only just made it inside when the clouds let loose with a torrent of rain. He brushed himself clear of any drops that had managed to land on him and made his way to the elevator that would take him to Plotz. He found Ralph by the door, having already pushed the button, waiting for its descent. 

“Good morning, Ralph,” Otto greeted. “Shouldn’t you be at the gate?”

“Duh, the boss says he wants me to stand in during a meeting he’s having.” The slow witted man replied. Otto wondered, with a sinking feeling, why Plotz wanted Ralph to be present. He supposed he’d find out soon enough. They made the rest of the journey together in relative silence. 

Plotz was already in an adamant conversation with a person Otto had never seen before when they arrived. He was a young, rather bored, looking man wearing a thin, red, vest with a company logo for ACME Industries on the back.

“Ah, Scratchensniff. Just in time.” Plotz said pleasantly when he saw them. “This is Thomas, a representative from ACME. He is the answer to our little Warner situation.”

“Your boss here was telling me all about your toon problem.” Thomas said failing to hide a distasteful look. “ACME Industries specializes in toon products. Shouldn’t be hard to solve your problem.”

“Why don’t you show them what you brought with you, Thomas.” Plotz said eagerly.

“First, may I say something?” Otto interrupted. 

Plots cocked his eyebrow at him. “Go on,” he said with a hint of impatience. 

“As you know, I’ve spent the last few months working directly with the Warner children. I know there have been a few… incidents… but I swear they aren’t malicious! From what I’ve observed their behavior lines up with normal, hyperactive, children acting out. Which can be corrected if given the _proper_ time and discipline.” Otto tried to explain. 

Plotz gave him an incredulous look. “Scratchensniff, what are you suggesting?” 

“I’m suggesting it’ll be much more beneficial for everyone if we forget about trying to dezanify the Warners.” He gave the ACME employee a hard look. “Or any alternative solutions.”

Plotz let out a harsh laugh. “Oh, really? How do you figure? Was it when they destroyed an entire warehouse? Or when they assaulted a man, who was ultimately just doing his job, with a mallet? Would you call that not malicious?”

“How did you know about that?” Asked Otto, surprised.

“The incident was caught on our security feed.” Plotz said. “That man must have the patience of a saint to have not pressed charges! So, I’m curious, Scratchensniff. What would your solution be?” Plotz asked with an edge to his voice.

“If you could approve them for retirement then we can rehome them off the lot to someone who knows how to take care of them. They’d be out of our hair and you’d never have to see them again.” Otto tried to reason. He hoped desperately he sounded convincing. 

“Do you think it is that simple? If I could have been rid of the Warners that easily I’d have done it at the start of all this!” Plotz snarled, rubbing his fingers on his temple. “I’ve looked over their contract quite thoroughly to see if that was an option we could take. But the way those contracts were written they were designed to be impossible to get out of. To sum it up, the Warners have to make a certain amount of money for the studio. Until then the studio takes full ownership and responsibility of them and any actions they take. Abandoning them would be a violation of that contract!”

“Then let them earn it! Put them on the air!” Otto yelled.

“Give them their own show? Are you mad, Scratchensniff?” Plotz was yelling now, his face flushing red, as his anger grew. “Those brats can barely walk from one end of the lot to the other without destroying everything they come in contact with! What makes you think we’d be able to make anything profitable from them?”

“But that isn’t fair!” Otto yelled back, getting into his boss’s face. “How can they ever be free if you won’t give them a chance?”

“They won’t _ever_ get a chance! Not ever!” Plotz screamed, spittle flying into Otto’s face, much to his disgust. “They’re vile, they’re destructive, they’re dangerous, and I will _not let them bring shame on this company's good name!_ ” Plotz was practically standing on his desk so he could glare down at Otto.

Subconsciously, Otto stood up straighter, in his own attempt to be taller than Plotz. “Dangerous? When have they ever seriously hurt anyone? They’re children!” He yelled.

“No, they’re toons!” Plotz roared. “Out of control toons that have already proven to be dangerous and cannot be controlled!” 

Both men were breathing heavily, openly glaring at each other. Ralph and the AMCE employee were backing away from the two fighting men, looking extremely uncomfortable. A heavy silence hung over the room.

Finally, Plotz spoke. “I didn’t want to share this if I didn’t have to.” Plotz sat back down into his seat with a huff. He rummaged through his drawer, pulling out a thin, sealed, file and slapping it on his desk. 

Otto leaned forward with interest as Plotz opened the file and began shoving papers at him. To his surprise, Otto found he was looking at a hospital record. “That,” Plotz said, pointing to a picture of an unpleasant looking man, “is Weed Memlo. This man spent 6 months in a _coma_ due to the oldest Warner.” He spat out the name like it was poison.

Otto gaped as he scanned the paper. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?” He asked, horrified. Had his life been in danger when he’d been given the task of watching the Warner siblings? He had never seen the kids seem cruel or threatening but the evidence that they could have hurt him at any point was staring him in the face. He felt a small seed of doubt sprout in his chest. 

“When Mel got out of hospital we were able to settle things between him and the company in a private manner. My predecessor knew that if it got out that Warner Brothers had made toons that were actively aggressive towards humans we would take a massive monetary hit! Lucky for us, very few people actually knew about them. He made the decision that we would all be better off if they disappeared.” Plotz said.

Otto flinched at the implication. Had that very thought not crossed his own mind several times? He’d even voiced it to Yakko in a fit of anger. But deep down he knew he never meant it sincerely.

“It was necessary.” Plotz sighed. “I thought we were on the same page about this, Scratchensniff.”

Otto hesitated. He had been so sure a moment ago that everything Plotz said was wrong. “What would your alternative be?” He asked cautiously. 

Plotz gave a nasty grin. “Why, it’s right over there.” Plotz indicated a stack of black boxes over his shoulder he hadn’t noticed before. There were three of them each about the size of a large dog crate. Dread filled him as he inspected them. “What are those?”

“As I’ve been saying. The answer to our problem.” Plotz replied.

“Plotz put in a special order for them.” The ACME employee supplied. “Toon proof cages. We usually make them for toon rat infestations because poisons won’t do the job. They should do the trick for these Warners.”

“Cages?” Otto gasped in shock. “What are you going to do with those?”

“Our investors and the board made themselves quite clear to me the other day. The Warners must be dealt with at any cost. We’re locking them back up! Separate, so we know for sure they stay put this time!” Plotz declared.

Otto gasped, staring at his boss in horror. He had come to understand that the Warners had been done a great wrong the first time they had been locked up. He knew he couldn’t stand by and let it happen again. 

“Ralph, I want you to go fetch the brats!” Plotz was saying. “Why delay the inevitable? Wouldn’t want to give them the opportunity to cost us more money.”

Otto wanted to protest but he felt frozen due to shock. Ralph was weakly protesting. Not even the burley security guard wanted to lock up children, it seemed. Plotz had no problem talking over him and he relented, turning to the door reluctantly.

“Yakko Warner?” Ralph gasped, which gained the whole room’s attention. Otto whirled towards the door. There stood Yakko, heading peeking in from the door, staring at them all, horrified.

“Yakko! How long have you been standing there?” Otto asked, panicked. 

Yakko snapped his terrified gaze to Otto. “Long enough.” He choked out. “You want to lock us up again? _Separate?_ And you were _okay_ with that?” His voice wavered. He sounded hurt.

“Yakko, I would never let that happen!” Otto pleaded.

“That’s not what it looks like from where I’m standing, doc.” Yakko growled, hackles raised. “I won’t let you do that to them again!” He snarled.

“What are you waiting for Ralph! Grab him before he can warn the others! Or it’s your job!” Plotz yelled. Despite his earlier reluctance Ralph sprang into action. 

Yakko was quick to pull his head back through the door and slammed it shut behind him. In a flurry of motion he, Ralph, and Plotz had sprang for the door. Yakko was gone by the time they all made it into the hall. Evidently, he had taken the stairs, which, with his toon abilities would have been far faster than the elevator. 

Plots had sprinted to the elevator and was smashing the call button repeatedly. While they waited, Otto anxiously scanned the lot through the office window. “There he is!” He called when he spotted Yakko. He’d already made it out of the building and was racing through the pouring rain across the lot towards his office. The elevator dinged behind him and they all piled in together.

“Listen, you two!” Plotz barked as they descended. “If they leave the lot then who knows what they could do. Any property damage they cause, any people they harass or injure, it all falls on us! This could ruin us all! If you value your careers then do whatever it takes to catch them!”

Otto agreed that they needed to catch the Warners but not for the same reason. Burbank had a high toon population but it also had a large number of humans that hated toons and saw them as abominations. The siblings had spent their whole lives on the lot and Otto knew they would be unprepared to face life on the streets. 

By the time they had made it out onto the pavement, Yakko had already made it to his office and back. Dragging his siblings by their hands, they sprinted as fast as they could to the unmanned gate. Nurse was also chasing after them, looking concerned. 

“They’re going… to get… away…!” Plotz wheezed as the Warners sped off, far faster than any of them. With ease the siblings slipped under the gate and took off down the street.

“Kids, please! Come back! I’d never let them hurt you like that again!” Otto screamed. His voice was drowned by a large bang as lightning struck the earth. The wind was whipping the rain around in a frenzy and the retreating Warners were becoming harder to see. It didn’t take long for him to lose sight of them and they were gone, lost to the streets of Burbank.

-

Yakko had been uncharacteristically quiet all morning. He had been ever since they had gotten yelled at by Scratchy. They riled up Scratchy on a semi regular basis so he yelled at them often but they always brushed it off. Wakko and Dot were able to pick up on Yakko’s tension and they all stayed close together hiding out with Nurse. 

Nurse was always friendly to them and made sure to dote on them when she could spare the time. Yakko had climbed onto her lap and was content to spend the rest of the day there; curled up, head resting on the arm of her chair, softly letting out a contented purr as she absentmindedly scratched behind his ears. Wakko had also settled himself on her feet and was chewing on a shoe he had swiped from Ralph. Dot was entertaining herself by digging through Nurse’s purse.

A light flashed on her desk phone gaining her attention. “Sorry, kids.” She said gently prying Yakko from her lap and setting him on the floor. She nudged Wakko off her feet, sending him rolling onto the carpet. “Duty calls I’m afraid.”

“Give me the number. I’ll call next. I’m sure there's a lot of ‘duties’ we can perform.” He said, teasingly learning his head towards her and wiggling his eyebrows. Nurse tousled his ears, gently shoving him away.

Wakko howled from his spot on the floor. “Helloooo, duty!”

“Boys.” Dot said with an eye roll.

“You said it.” Nurse agreed, making her way over to Scratchy’s office.

Yakko was over near the door as soon as it shut, pressing his ear tightly against the wood.

“What are you doing?” Dot asked, perplexed. 

“Scratchy is planning something having to do with us. Plotzy mentioned a meeting they were going to have the other night, remember?” Yakko replied. “If it somehow involves us I want to know.”

Wakko and Dot were quick to join their brother by the door. They all pressed their sensitive ears up to the door. Scratchy and Nurse were talking in soft voices but the Warners had better hearing than most.

“ _I know, but I don’t trust leaving them on their own again. Plus, they listen to you sometimes. I wouldn’t trust anyone else watching them_.” They heard Scratchy say with a sigh. 

“I’m going to follow him.” Yakko whispered, pulling away from the door.

“Considering she was just told to watch us, I think, Nurse will notice if we aren’t here.” Dot whispered back. “Besides, why do we care if they’re meeting up to talk about us? They do that all the time!”

“Call it intuition, but I have a bad feeling about the way Plotzy brought it up.” Yakko muttered.

“There isn’t anything to worry about. Scratchy wouldn’t let anything bad happen.” Wakko said, faithfully. 

Yakko could tell by Wakko’s expression he really believed it. Yakko wished he could have believed in Scratchy as much as his brother but…

“ _I think we'd all have been better off if you three had stayed in that tower_.”

“I need to be sure. Can you two stay here and distract Nurse?” Yakko asked.

“Hmm, she’s a lot more clever than our usual targets.” Dot mussed looking thoughtful. “She’ll definitely notice if you weren’t here.”

“I could dress up as Yakko!” Wakko volunteered. “She’ll never know the difference.”

“I said she was _smarter_.” Dot said.

“Aside from the obvious height issue, baby brother, if that did work how would we explain _your_ absence?” 

“Dot could dress up as me!” Wakko proclaimed.

“And we’re back to square one.” Yakko said, rolling his eyes.

“I have a better idea. And this one lets us keep our clothes _on_.” Dot said.

“Goodnight, everybody!” Yakko said, doing his usual flourish. He couldn’t resist.

“Zip it.” Dot growled, making her way over to Nurse’s discarded purse. She dug through it, tossing various miscellaneous items on the floor as she did, finally pulling out a wallet. Dot popped it open pulling out the contents and inspecting them. 

“Let’s see… License? That’s important. Credit cards? Need those.” She pulled out one card and mockingly gasped at it. “A twenty-five dollar gift card for Dunkin’ Bucks? Absolutely _can’t_ lose that.” She packed everything back into it and tossed the wallet at Wakko’s feet.

“How about a little game of keep away?” She asked, with a mischievous grin.

“I think I can manage that.” Wakko said, returning her grin with one of his own.

He shoved it out of sight when the door to Scratchy’s office opened. Scratchy and Nurse came through and she saw him off at the door. “Looks like it’s just us for awhile. You kids hungry? I know I don’t even have to ask Wakko.” She said, turning to them with a friendly smile. “I’m sure the doctor won’t mind if we leave the lot if we bring him back something.”

“Can we do this after she feeds us?” Wakko pleaded, quietly, so as not to be heard. “I’m starving!”

“Focus!” Yakko hissed, jabbing him with his elbow.

“Okay!” He said, rubbing his arm where he’d been jabbed.

Nurse, who was gathering her things together, was quick to notice her missing belongings. “Dot,’ she asked, “Do you know where my wallet went? We can’t leave until I have it.”

“I do… but I think you’ll have a hard time getting it back.” Dot said. “We forgot to feed our dog this morning.” She pointed at Wakko, who, at his cue, had gotten down on all fours and was shaking it between his teeth.

“Wakko, no!” Nurse yelled, lunging towards him. Wakko deftly dodged around her, scrambling to the other side of the room. He teasingly growled at her from a play bow stance, tail wagging above his head. She continued to lunge at him, crying protests, as he led her around the room in a fruitless chase.

“Distracting enough for you?” Dot asked, cocking her eyebrow.

“That’s perfect, sib.” Yakko said, pleased.

“What can I say? I’m a professional.” Dot said, looking very pleased with herself. “You better hurry. She’ll catch him eventually.”

“I’m not too worried. He’s an old pro at being chased.” Yakko replied.

“Yeah, but she’s clever. She’ll probably work out how to trap him.”

“Guess you’ll have to bail him out. See you soon, sib.” Yakko said, slipping out the door. 

He hastily made his way outside figuring Scratchy was already at the other building. It had already started raining by then but he wasn’t too bothered by it. If anything, he was able to get to the main building faster, without having to worry about being seen. 

He was soaked by the time he entered the main building. Not wanting to leave a water trail he did his best to shake his wet pelt out. He ended up spraying water all over the front desk, which was, thankfully, unoccupied. 

_“Oops,”_ he thought to himself. _“I hope those papers weren’t important…”_

Not wanting to dwell in the lobby, waiting for the elevators, and risk getting caught by the front desk staff when they came back, he decided to take the stairs. He didn’t want to wear himself out using toon speed, in case he needed it to get away unnoticed, so he walked quickly instead. He went at a fast pace but it still took him a while to reach the top floor.

The door to Plotz’ office was easy to recognize being as large as the man’s ego. Yakko leaned his ear into the thick, solid, wood of the door but it was impossible to make out what was being said. He’d have to risk opening it.

Steeling himself, he slowly turned the handle and hoped that they were too distracted to notice it from the other side. When the knob refused to turn anymore he pushed it open, just enough to peak inside.

“Our investors and the board made themselves quite clear to me the other day. The Warners must be dealt with at any cost. We’re locking them back up! Separate, so we know for sure they stay put this time!” Plotz was saying.

Yakko immediately froze up stunned by what he had overheard. They wanted to lock them up again. 

They wanted to lock them up again, separately! 

_They wanted to lock them up again, separately, and throw away the key!_

Struggling to fight off panic he thrust his head through the door. His gaze immediately locked onto the three black boxes in the room. He had a horrible feeling that those were intending to be the new water tower. They looked so small Yakko guessed he wouldn’t even be able to stand at his full height in one of them. Plotz wanted to lock them up in _those?_ He had thought the water tower had felt cramped when they’d been left to rot inside.

He felt sick.

Plotz was going on about how life could finally go back to normal. Yakko noticed Scratchy was standing there, saying nothing. It surprised Yakko with how much it hurt. Scratchensniff was the first adult in his life he had started to think he could maybe trust.

_“I think we'd all have been better off if you three had stayed in that tower.”_

He should have known better. No adult had ever sided with them before why should that change now?.

He jumped when he heard Ralph loudly proclaiming his name to the room. 

“Yakko! How long have you been standing there?” Scratchensniff asked him, clearly startled by Yakko being there. 

Yakko tried to look angry but he couldn’t hide his growing fear. “Long enough.” He choked out around the growing lump in his throat. “You want to lock us up again? _Separate?_ And you were _okay_ with that?” Despite himself his voice broke. He hoped they couldn’t see his fearful trembling.

“Yakko, I would have never let that happen!” Otto pleaded.

He wasn’t going to fall for it this time. His fur poofed out and he bared his teeth at Scratchensniff. “That’s not what it looks like from where I’m standing, doc.” He growled. Yakko thought of his siblings, waiting for him back in Scratchensniff’s office. About how, despite all they’d gone though at the hands of people at the lit, had managed to trust him. It made him furious. 

“I won’t let you do that to them again!” He swore, slamming the door behind him as he fled. 

Thankfully, he had taken the stairs, so backtracking to get out of the building was a simple matter. With the use of his toon speed he was down them in no time. It was still pouring out but he paid the rain no heed. The only thing that mattered was getting his siblings away.

He barely gave the door to Scratchensniff’s office time to open, practically kicking it in. He interrupted a tussle at any other time he would have found amusing. Nurse had managed to catch Wakko after all and he was pressed tightly against her chest, clutched with both arms. Dot, being Wakko’s backup, had positioned herself on Nurse’s shoulders, holding her hands over Nurse’s eyes and clinging as she tried to get her off. They all stopped and turned to look at him when he burst through the door. 

“Yakko?” Nurse asked with surprise not having noticed he had left. 

“Sibs, we gotta go,” Yakko panted. “Right now.”

“Go where?” Dot asked, confused. She cocked her eyebrow at her brother's ruffled appearance. He was panting from his sprint and dripping obviously having not bothered to stop and shake out his pelt. His eyes were wide and shifty. “What’s gotten into you? You weren’t even gone that long.”

Yakko faltered at his sister’s questions. She and Wakko trusted Scratchensniff and he didn’t want to see them hurt. But they were probably on their way and Yakko didn’t have the time to try and spare their feelings. 

“They want to lock us up again, sibs.” He explained, saidly, his ears and tail involuntarily dropping. 

“What!?” Dot and Wakko yelped in unison. Immediately they broke away from a stunned Nurse and were in front of Yakko, badgering him with questions.

“But how? Plotz said he wasn’t going to try!” Dot cried.

“What did Scratchy do? He wouldn’t let that happen, would he, Yakko?” Asked Wakko.

“He has these black little cages in his office, one for each of us, that are apparently toon proof.” Yakko growled. “And Scratchy was standing right there and didn’t say a thing!”

“One for each? You mean they want to put us in those things _alone_?” Dot asked, looking panicked.

Yakko nodded gravely at her. 

“No…” Wakko whined, devastated. Out of all of them he had liked Scratchensniff the most.

“What are we going to do, Yakko?” Dot asked.

“Leaving. Right now. I’m not going to let Plotz have his way.” Yakko told her ushering them out the door. 

“Wait, just a minute!” Nurse cried. “There must be a misunderstanding! The Doctor would never allow something like that to happen!” She tried to reason.

Yakko bared his teeth and glared at her. “I bet you were in on it, this whole time, too!” He accused her. He didn’t give her time to respond, grabbing his siblings arms, and dragging them out the office door.

Unfortunately, the main building with Plotz office was closer to the guard gate then the building Scratchensniff’s office was in. By the time he’d grabbed his sibs and made it back outside, Plotz, Ralph, and Scratchensniff had already made it out themselves. 

They spotted them immediately and gave chase. Yakko might have been tired but adrenaline was driving him, and he easily used his toon speed to outpace their pursuers. A quick duck under the gate and they were out on the street, the storm rumbling around them, as they ran off into the unknown.

-

Yakko’s chest was heaving and his legs ached but he didn’t stop his frantic sprinting. He remembered how miserable the first few years they’d been locked up had been. The only reason they’d been able to get through it was because they had each other. The thought of any of them going through that alone was terrifying. He knew he’d actually go insane.

So he didn’t stop, clutching each of his siblings with his hands, leading them down streets and through alleys trying to get as far from the studio lot as possible. Freezing rain pelted down soaking into their clothes and pelts. Yakko only stopped when he felt Dot yank her hand out of his own.

“Stop…” She wheezed, doubling over with her hands on her knees. “I... can’t… run.... anymore.”

“Just a bit further, then we’ll stop.” Yakko said, anxiously trying to urge her forward.

“You said that thirty minutes ago!” She snapped, but she didn’t have the energy to put any real bite in it.

Despite his anxiety, Yakko did pause to observe his sibling’s conditions. Dot’s wheezing gradually died off as she caught her breath but she still looked exhausted and cold. Wakko was much the same, almost trembling in his effort to stay on his feet. He was the most tired out of the three of them. He’d gone from having to keep Nurse busy to being dragged by his brother for several miles through the city.

“Yakko…” Wakko whined. “We have to stop. I _need_ to eat.”

“Alright,” Yakko conceded. He knew Wakko only ever said he needed to eat when he meant it. “But we need to stay off the street. I don’t want to be out in the open when the amber alert goes out.”

Despite Yakko’s fear of being found there were few people out, the rain keeping everyone inside. At a slower pace Yakko led his siblings down a few more narrow alleyways coming to a stop next to a large, cardboard box sitting on its side next to a dumpster. The top was starting to fold inwards and the flaps were soggy but it was mostly dry inside and was big enough for the three of them.

“We can rest here.” Yakko said, crawling inside.

“Here?” Dot asked, unimpressed. “No way.”

“It’s out of the rain and we won’t be seen, it’ll do for now!” Yakko tried to reason.

“I’m not getting in there!” She said, stomping her foot.

“Look, I know it’s no five star hotel but this is the best we have for now!” Yakko growled, tired, not having the patience for Dot to be stuffy.

“Forget five star hotel, that’s not even a motel six!” 

“You’ve slept in a water tower. A box isn’t that much different.” Wakko said, tiredly crawling inside after Yakko.

“It is!” She finally exploded. “It’s wet, it’s gross, and it smells! We’ve been running around all day in the freezing rain and I’m tired! I don’t want to sleep in a gross box in the _garbage!_ I want my bed! I want to go home!” Her voice cracked. “Why do they hate us so much?” She sobbed.

“I don’t know, sib…” Yakko answered, honestly. He’d never understood it himself. He knew they were excitable and a bit destructive but that had been the way humans had made them. Even back then, the adults' reactions to the slightest misstep by any of the Warners would result in such an angry and violent backlash it was impossible to view it as anything other than unbridled hatred. 

He’d been starting to think Scratchensniff and even Nurse might have been different but it turned out they were just better at hiding it.

Gently grabbing Dot’s arm, Yakko pulled her in with them and settled her between himself and Wakko. Immediately, she was pulled into a comforting embrace by Wakko and she buried her face into his wet shoulder. 

“It’ll be okay, sibs. We’ve been taking care of ourselves since we were born. We don’t need the lot or Scratchensniff.” Yakko said, trying to sound reassuring. Dot wailed into her brother's shoulder and they allowed her to process in silence. Her sobs eventually trailed off into the occasional quiet sniffle.

The small space was cramped with the three of them crammed inside together, but with some rearranging they managed to get somewhat comfortable. Yakko curled his body as best he could around his siblings to conserve their warmth and they cuddled into his side, sleepily.

“Wish it would stop raining. The drowned rat look isn’t for us. Not cute at all.” Dot sniffled. They sat in silence watching the rain fall on the empty street. Occasionally, a car would drive by causing all three to tense. 

“What do we do now?” Wakko asked, quietly. 

Yakko had been wondering himself. He hadn’t had much of a plan beyond get away from danger as fast as possible.

“Well, we don’t need you getting sick on top of everything else, better pull out those hammerspace pies.” Yakko said. 

“Ugh,” Wakko winced. “I’d hoped I’d never have to eat hammerspace food again.”

Yakko couldn’t blame him. It was common knowledge that talented toons could summon food from their hammerspaces. Summoned food could be eaten like regular food and it had been how they’d kept Wakko from getting sick when they’d been locked in the tower. However, things generated from a toon’s hammerspace are still technically part of the toon. So all food just tasted like ink. Which even Wakko found to be disgusting. 

“We’ll find something real tomorrow.” Yakko promised.

Reluctantly, Wakko did as his brother said, practically swallowing them whole in his efforts to get them past his taste buds as quickly as possible.

“Good job, Wak.” Yakko mumbled tiredly after he’d determined Wakko had eaten enough.

Dot had dozed off curled tightly into Yakko’s side. Wakko was also finding it hard to keep his eyes open, occasionally bobbing his head as he fought to stay away. The exhausting events of the day, both physically and emotionally, had been quick to catch up to them.

“I hope we can find donuts tomorrow…” Wakko was mumbling, sleepily. “And hamburgers… and tacos… pis-ghetti… n’’... meatballs...” Sleep won out as he trailed off into light snores.

“Yeah,” Yakko agreed, pulling his sibling close and closing his eyes. “Tomorrow’s another day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm feeling too lazy to really edit right now, so if you see anything feel free to point it out. I can't promise a date for the next chapter but I can say you can look forward to seeing Pinky and the Brain again soon. That's something to look forward to, I hope.
> 
> Thank you for all the kind comments and kudos. I don't always respond but I do read them and they are very motivating. I appreciate the kinds words more than you know. Until next time!~


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